Fluoridation foes speak out

The fluoride debate finally has some teeth. More than 300 international leading scientists and activists have issued a joint statement urging governments to stop the "cover-up" of public health risks that has gone on since the 1950s.

Some Canadian cities add fluoride to their water supplies, on the grounds that it reduces dental caries&a fact increasingly in question. A study reported in the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry found poor children had the most cavities regardless of fluoridation status.

More ominously, some researchers challenge fluoride's safety, pointing to studies suggesting long-term health problems, including arthritis, hip fracture, osteosarcoma (bone cancer), and central nervous system and hormone dysfunction.

Prominent Canadian signatories to this statement include Dr. Hardy Limeback, head of preventive dentistry, University of Toronto; Dr. Rosalie Bertell, retired founder and president, International Institute of Concern for Public Health; and Ella Haley, PhD, Centre for Global and Social Analysis, Athabasca University, Edmonton.

Source: fluoridealert.org.