15 November 2002
PRESS RELEASE from National Pure Water Association.
Open Letter to the Chancellor of The Exchequer:
Look out! There's a cuckoo in the nest.
Dear Gordon,
Any competent investment manager would strongly advise his
clients not to put their money into a company with a twenty-seven
year history of losses and non-achievement.
Such a company, The British Fluoridation Society Ltd, (BFS),
was set up to promote the artificial fluoridation of drinking
water. To date, only ten per cent of England is fluoridated.
Despite the BFS' abysmal record, successive Governments and
regional health authorities continue to dip into the taxpayers'
purse to fund this Big Loser.
Health authorities, encouraged by Dept. of Health advisers
and BFS lobbyists, have instigated "public consultations"
on water fluoridation. Local councillors' time and scant resources
have been expended in preparation for these events.
After weighing both sides of the argument, 25 of the 26 Councils
in Northern Ireland rejected fluoridation. 28 out of 31 North
West Councils who also rejected fluoridation felt compelled
to form an alliance to counter continuing pressure from BFS-backed
health authorities. (Councils call it "harrassment".).
Four years ago, a fluoridation plant in West Cumbria failed.
This year, despite strong local opposition, the Department of
Health paid £1,000,000 to reinstate it. This figure does
not include the annual running cost.
In the North East, a recent independent health and safety report
recommended the closure of two fluoridation plants serving just
20,000 people in the Berwick area. The cost to the Northumberland
NHS Care Trust for replacement will be in excess of £500,000.
Running costs for these plants will cost the taxpayers another
£46,000 per annum. (The NHS Care Trust does not have the
money.). The Dept. of Health has also been asked to provide
a one-off payment of £29,000 to remove the redundant plant.
But these figures are dwarfed by the 'invisible' costs of fluoridation
over several decades.
In October 2000, an Dept. of Health-funded scientific review
of fluoridation carried out at York University recommended studies
to determine how fluoride adversely affects the thyroid gland,
the relation of fluoride to Down Syndrome and children's IQs.
However, in September 2002, a report
by a dentist-laden Medical Research Council team declared the
York recommendations to be "of low priority". Instead,
it recommended research to determine the "public perception
of aesthetically unacceptable dental fluorosis."
Parents of children with dental fluorosis are acutely aware
of the lifelong emotional and financial impacts that permanently
mottled, fluoride-stained teeth bring to their children's lives.
(See illustrated article on:
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/DF_blears.html).
Today, public opposition to water fluoridation is widespread.
Access to the internet has encouraged many people from all walks
of life to do their own homework in order to make informed decisions.
A brief search of one medical database revealed the following
published studies:
1,447 on "dental fluorosis"
25,455 on "dental caries" (tooth decay)
28,123 on "fluoride".
A quick search of the World Wide Web produced
11,400 listings for "dental fluorosis"
148,000 listings for "tooth decay"
473,000 listings for "fluoride"
94,000 listings for "fluoridation".
Over the past twelve years, more than 70 US cities have either
rejected or stopped fluoridation. It has not found favour in
continental Western European countries - some tried it and ceased
the practice; others rejected it out of hand. The Irish Government
are currently facing a huge campaign to stop fluoridation in
the Emerald Isle and the Scots are determined to keep it out
of Scotland's water.
Finally, Gordon, how much more taxpayers' money will you allow
to be squandered on New Labour's redundant fluoridation policy?
When will you recognise that the British Fluoridation Society
is a cuckoo with its beak buried in the back pocket of the Department
of Health?
Yours sincerely,
Jane Jones,
Campaign Director,
National Pure Water Association,
12 Dennington Lane,
Wakefield, WF4 3ET.
.
Contact Jane Jones, Campaign Director, NPWA: 01924 254433
OR,
Liz Vaughan, Information Officer, North West Councils Against
Fluoridation.
01229 885420
Sue King, founder of the National Register of Children with
Dental
Fluorosis - 01455 850250 or Mobile 07976 255364.
Notes for Editors (and Gordon!):
Since the Water (Fluoridation) Act was passed in 1985, nearly
half of all health authorities in England have requested several
water companies to implement fluoridation. The companies refused,
saying that (1) government indemnities to them are "insufficient"
to cover the risks and (2) that their customers do not want
it.
See the letter from Professor Sheldon, Chairman of the York
Review, in which he admonishes the British Fluoridation Society,
the British Dental Association and the British Medical Association
for MISREPRESENTING the results of the York Review:
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/sheldon_letter.html
Lord Baldwin was a member of the Advisory Panel of the York
Review. See his critique of the Medical Research Council's Report:
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/baldwin.html
The artificial fluoridation chemicals FAILED FORMAL VOTE IN
EUROPE, but were eventually "nodded through" under
"subsidiarity" concerns. The NPWA had several email
exchanges with the Water Research Centre in which they finally
made admissions - that the chemicals HAVE NOT been safety tested.
See http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/watershed-8-1-2002-p2.doc
Despite those admissions, Peter Jackson and A.N. Other of the
WRc-NSF subsequently wrote a report dated July 2002, which PURPORTS
to show the fluoridation chemicals are "safe". His
report is on the BFS website - as grist to their mill? But see
critiques of the WRc-NSF report here: http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/jackson.html
