OPEN LETTER
The Premier of Queensland
Queensland Minister for Health
Lord Mayor of Brisbane
Deputy Lord Mayor of Brisbane
Councillors, all Cities and Shires of Queensland
We wish to express our grave concerns regarding renewed proposals to fluoridate Queensland’s water supplies. Fluoridation began at a time when asbestos lined our pipes, when lead was added to petrol, and DDT was regarded as safe and effective. These chemicals have now been banned, but fluoridation remains untouched (www.fluoridealert.org/absurdity.htm).
Research is now raising doubts about fluoridation’s effectiveness. Data compiled by the World Health Organization shows tooth decay has declined at a similar rate in all Western Countries, irrespective of each country’s water or salt fluoridation status (www.fluoridealert.org/WHO-DMFT.htm).
New evidence for potential serious harm from long-term fluoride ingestion is also emerging. This evidence is summarised on the following web sites: www.fluoridealert.org/limeback.htm and www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm.
It is extraordinary that the same people who reject abundant global evidence about the association between fluoride ingestion and organ damage (e.g. to bones, teeth, glands, or immune system), embrace the questionable science used to support its benefits. They ignore the many confounding possible influences in this research. This includes sugar consumption (averaging 1 kg per week per person in Australia) much of which is hidden, other nutritional influences, general dental hygiene, use of floss and movements in population.
Recent studies by several eminent researchers strongly suggest that fluoride works primarily by topical means through direct action on the surface of the teeth via toothpaste, or gels used in dental treatments (www.slweb.org/bibliography.html see: XIII, ‘topical versus systemic effects’), (Centers for Disease Control {CDC}1999 and 2001). Ingestion of fluoride through drinking fluoridated water is not essential nor effective for caries reduction.
Hardy Limeback, PhD, DDS, BSc, (Associate Professor and Head, Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto and Past President of the Canadian Association for Dental Research) apologised in 1999 for inadvertently misleading both his colleagues and dental students in his support for fluoridation. Addressing them he concluded: “For the past 15 years, I had refused to study the toxicology information that is readily available to anyone. Poisoning our children was the furthest thing from my mind” (www.fluoridealert.org/news/1537.html).
The fluoridating agent most commonly used is a hazardous contaminated industrial-grade product from the phosphate fertilizer industry (www.fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm).
We strongly reject the notion that placing a chronic poison in our water supplies is clever preventive medicine.
We represent 1500 doctors, dentists, scientists and others working in the interests of public health who are primarily interested in prevention and early intervention in disease processes.
The question of fluoridation was considered with care, openness and good representation by the Lord Mayor’s Task Force in 1997 which came down clearly against fluoridating Brisbane’s water supply (www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-4/314-232.htm). It is astounding that this issue could again be raised in Queensland in an apparently co-ordinated national campaign. No new evidence has been put forward to our knowledge that would warrant a revision of the 1997 decision.
We will urge Queenslanders to study the evidence showing potential serious harm from long-term fluoride ingestion and to inform their councillors and state members how they feel about this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Doug Everingham MBBS
1972-75 Australian Minister for Health
World Health Assembly 1975
National Delegation Leader
and Vice-President for Western Pacific WHO region
Dr Eric Davis
BDSc Dip. Clin. Nutr. FACNEM
Qld Chair ASOMAT, Past National President ASOMAT
(ASOMAT is the Australasian Society of Oral Medicine and Toxicology ˆ a Dental Practitioners‚ Association)
(FACNEM is Fellowship of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine – ACNEM)
Dr Gary Deed
MBBS (Qld) FACNEM
Qld Board Member ACNEM
Qld Chair and National Vice President AIMA (Australian Integrative Medicine Association)
Chair, Diabetes Australia (Qld)
Dr Barry Ryan
MBBS (Qld) FACNEM
American Board Certified, Environmental Medicine
Member, Brisbane Lord Mayor‚s Taskforce on Fluoride 1997
Dr Philip Stowell
MBBS (London) FACNEM
Qld Board Member FACNEM
Dr John Ryan
MBBS Qld FRACGP, DCH (Irel)
MSc Nutrition with Distinction (London)
FACNEM, FAMAC, MRCGP (UK)
Past Qld President ACNEM AMAC & AIMA
CMEC Member, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia
Deputy Chair, Council, Australian College of Natural Medicine (ACNM)
Chair, Human Research Ethics Committee (ACNM)
Nea Cameron-Smith RN
Past Secretary, Australian College of Holistic Nurses
Dr Kris Mylonas
MBBS Qld FACNEM
Post-grad Dip.Acup BCTANT
Chair, Brisbane Bayside Division of General Practice Committee for GP Health & Wellbeing
Chair, Brisbane Bayside Division of General Practice Committee for Continuing Professional Education/Development
Shirley Strachan ND BHSc(Comp Med) MA(Hons)History Grad Dip(Mar Arch)
Mark Diesendorf BSc PhD
Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University
Director, Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd
Dr Robyn Cosford
Representing:
Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine
The Australian Integrative Medicine Association
Holistic Dental Association
Mona Vale NSW
Cr Lisa C Intemann BA(Hons) BAppSc DipSocSc
Community Development worker (thirty years)
Wauchope, NSW
Professor Ian Brighthope
MBBS (Melb) BAg FACNEM
Founding Director, President, Australian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine (ACNEM)
Professor Noel Campbell
FACNEM FASID BDSc LDS
Melbourne VIC
Philip Robertson BHSc ND
Lecturer Natural Medicine, Dept Health Science
Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC
Dr Vicki Kotsirilos
MBBS (Monash) FACNEM DipHerbMed, CertAcup, DipHyp
Dr Bogdan Sikorski
Senior Toxicologist
Office of Complementary Medicines
Canberra ACT
Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith PhD (Law)
Coordinator National Toxics Network Inc.
Rivett ACT
Dr. Hardy Limeback BSc PhD DDS
Associate Professor and Head, Preventive Dentistry
University of Toronto
Toronto Canada
Richard G Foulkes BA MD
Abbotsford British Columbia Canada
Ella Haley BSc PhD
Centre for Global and Social Analysis,
Athabasca University
Alberta Canada
Dr Robert C Dickson MD CCFP
Calgary Alberta Canada
Michelle Meyer ND
Member, Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors
Dr Rosalie Bertell PhD GNSH
Founder and immediate Past President
International Institute of Concern for Public Health www.iicph.org <http://www.iicph.org/> Canada
Patrick Chapus
President, Association de Sauvegarde du Patrimonine et du Cadre de Vie de Solerieux (Association of Safeguard of the Inheritance and the Framework of Life of Solerieux)
Solerieux, France
Professor Dr Leo Rebello
ND PhD DSc FFHom
Fellow of the European Medical Association
President, AIDS Alternativa International
World Peace Envoy, Bombay India
Dr Philip Michael MB BCh BAO MICGP
Chairperson, Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association
Ireland
Dr Elizabeth Cullen
MB BCh BAO MSc(Community Health)
Diploma in Pollution Control,
Irish Doctors Environmental Association, Ireland
Irish Dentists Opposed to Fluoridation (61 members)
<mailto:>
(IDOF’s primary aim is to highlight the undemocratic, unethical and unsafe nature of fluoridation in Ireland)
Endorsed by Dr Don Mac Auley MDS (Dental Surgeon)
Dr Andrew Rynne
Medical Practitioner
Life long campaigner for civil liberty and free choice, writer and
Founder, Clane General Hospital, Co. Kildare
Kildare Ireland
Loty Zilberman MSc
Chemical engineer (Specialized in drug manufacture and toxicology)
Ghivataiim, Israel
Bruce Spittle MB ChB DPM FRANZCP
Dunedin New Zealand
Dr Michael E Godfrey
MBBS (London) FACAM FACNEM
President NZ Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
Director, Bay of Plenty Environmental Health
Tauranga New Zealand
Tohru Murakami DDS PhD
Vice President, Japanese Society for Fluoride Research
Kenichi Narita DDS
Vice President, Japanese Society for Fluoride Research
Kenji Akiniwa DDS
Editor of the Journal of Japanese Society for Fluoride Research
Junji Kato MD PhD
Director of Miyachiyo Kato Clinic, Miyagi Pref, Japan
Member, Medwatcher Japan
Yoshihiro Satoh MD
3-2-6 Shintohna Naruse-Town Miyagi, Japan
Mageswari Sangaralingam
Research Officer
Consumers’ Association of Penang
Penang Malaysia
Marie-Lou Roux
Executive Officer: Habitat Council
Cape Town, South Africa
George Cheng
Executive Director
Taiwan (Environmental) Watch Institute, Taiwan
Herlin Hsieh
Researcher
Taiwan (Environmental) Watch Institute, Taiwan
<mailto:>
Dr C Vyvyan Howard MB ChB PhD FRCPath.
Developmental Toxico-Pathology Group
Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Liverpool
Liverpool UK
Paul Connett PhD
Professor of Chemistry
St Lawrence University
Canton, New York
Roger D Masters PhD
Research Professor and Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government
Department of Government HB
Dartmouth College
Hanover NH USA
Robert J Carton PhD (Environmental Science)
Former Chief, Environmental Compliance US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Fort Detrick Maryland USA
Russell L Blaylock MD
Neurosurgeon and Neuroscientist
Advanced Nutritional Concepts
Past Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Visiting Professor of Biology Belhaven College
Jackson Mississippi USA
“This is to plea with you not to fluoridate your water supplies. I am a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who has studied the issue of effects of water fluoridation on the developing brain as well as adult brain. Fluoridation of drinking water is a grave mistake and health hazard.”
Vinod Barot
MSc PhD DIS (India) MEng(USA) CCEP(Canada)Technical Director
Sanitary District of Hammond
Hammond IN USA
W Robert Heterick AB MSc PhD (Clinical Psychology)
Witchita KS USA
David Kennedy DDS
Past President, International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
Former Brisbane Lord Mayor‚s Taskforce Consultant on Fluoride 1997
San Diego CA USAMae Woo DDS
Montana USA
Samuel E Epstein MD
Professor Emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine
Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition
University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health
Chicago Illinois USA
Christopher Bryson
Investigative Journalist, Author “The Fluoride Deception”
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/books/8233/8233books.html (book review)
New York USA
Firuzeh Mahmoudi MSc MPA (Environmental)
Health Care Without Harm
International Coordinator
Berkley CA USA
Bruce Randall
Longmeadow Water & Sewer Commission Chairman, ex-oficio
Longmeadow Massachusetts USA
Jeanine Trevillyan MD
Texarkana Arkansas USA
Tony Tweedale MS(Environmental Studies)
Secretary, Montana Coalition for Health, Environmental & Economic Rights
Missoula MT USA
Dr Neil Carman
BS (Plant Biology), MS(Plant Biology), PhD(Phytochemistry)
Environmental scientist
Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter
Austin, TX 78702
Raymond R White PhD(Stanford Biological Sciences 1973)
56 City College of San Francisco
San Francisco CA USA
Susan Augustoni
Licensed Certified Nutritionist
Superior Colorado USA <http://www.iicph.org>
Phillip M Allen MD PhD & June Allen MEd
Enviro-Health Concerns (pro bono publico)
Wichita KS USA
Michael F Dolan PhD
Research Professor
Department of Geosciences
UMASS
Amherst MA 01003 USA
Wichita KS USA
Albert W Burgstahler PhD
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
University of Kansas Lawrence Kansas USA
Endorsed by:
Dr John Ryan
Bridgeman Downs
Queensland, Australia