INTERNATIONAL FLUORIDE INFORMATION NETWORK, August 9, 2001

IFIN BULLETIN #337:

"[Bottle-fed] Irish babies getting too much fluoride, but......
don't tell anybody!"

That's the latest scandal that has emerged in Ireland. In the late
1990's,
students at a Dental Hospital in Dublin did a simple piece of arithmatic
and found out that babies that are bottle fed with formula made up with
fluoridated tap water are being overdosed on fluoride. However, either
their professors couldn't do this simple piece of arithmatic or they
felt that it would not be "politic" to let this research get to the
Irish people. Either way the study never saw the light of day, until
yesterday's issue of the Irish Examiner (see below).

We've been through the arithmatic before but it is worth repeating:
Life emerged from the sea which has a concentration of fluoride of a
little over 1ppm. However, in the evolution of mammalian tissue the
levels of fluoride in our body fluids, including mother's breast milk,
is about 0.01 ppm or less.

In other words, for whatever reason, nature contrived to keep fluoride
away from our soft tissues and away from newborn babies. This, of
course, flies in the face of those that claim that fluoride is a
"nutrient" and is needed for healthy teeth.  Clearly, if fluoride
was needed for healthy teeth, nature wouldn't be so stupid as to keep
it away from the diet of newborn babies. Our bureaucracies can make
mistakes like that, but nature doesn't!

Thus, when a parent uses fluoridated tap water to make up baby formula,
the baby gets 100 times more fluoride than a baby that is breast fed.

This over exposure increases the risk that the child will get dental
fluorosis (damage to the tooth enamel), the first VISIBLE indication
that fluoride has interfered with the normal functioning of the body.

According to Dr. Hans Moolenburgh, a pediatrician in the Netherlands,
the baby may be giving us other indications of excess fluoride exposure
(stomach pains, restlessness, etc) but doctors have not been trained
to recognize these.

For "political" reasons nothing must take place at medical or dental
schools which could harm the practice of fluoridation.  All of this
takes on a higher level of absurdity when one notes that leading dental
researchers from around the world are now conceding that whatever
benefits fluoride may provide (if any) are achieved topically, not
systemically.  Thus by giving the baby fluoridated tap water the
baby is getting no benefit, only potential harm.

This isn't rocket science. It is pity that fourth year students can
work this out, but their professors can't... or can, but refuse to
tell the public. What was that about that important medical ethic,
"First, do no harm"?

Paul Connett, Phd.
Professor of Chemistry
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY  13617

August 8, 2001

Do not use tap water for babies, parents warned
By Cormac O'Keeffe

CAMPAIGNERS against fluoride yesterday warned parents not to use tap
water when making up formula feeds for their babies.

The lobby group Fluoride Free Water said they had uncovered an
unpublished study by the Dublin Dental Hospital advising people not
to use tap water when feeding their babies.

The study, conducted in 1997-98, concluded: "We suggest parents be
made aware of the additive effects of multiple fluoride sources such
as tap water, processed foods and toothpastes."

Fluorosis is the damage to teeth caused by consumption of fluoride.
The study recommended baby formulae should be made up using
fluoride-free water.

The report also called for more research on fluoride and the
implications for child health.  Fluoride Free Water said the report
was never made public and parents who were using tap water to make up
infant formula feed were overdosing their children with fluoride.

"There was no follow-up study and the Department of Health continues
to state we are safe. It is shocking to think it has known of the
problem for many years and done nothing," said Dr Don MacAuley,
dental advisor to the campaign.

He said in his experience of dental fluorosis in his practice, 90%
of children and adolescents have a history of bottlefeeding for
longer than six months.  Flouride Free Water described a
Government-appointed Forum on Fluoridation as unbalanced and
unaccountable and called for an independent public inquiry.

The chief executive of the Dublin Dental Hospital, Brian Murray,
said the report referred to was a study carried out by fourth year
dental students.

"It is an undergraduate study, not of the quality which could be
published in a scientific journal and should be seen in that context
and that is in all due respects to the students."  He said student
reports are therefore not published, but details of them are sent to
the media when the students receive awards for their projects.

He also pointed out the potential benefits of fluoride far
outweighed any small cases of fluorosis and the vast majority of
dentists do not want it removed from tap water.  The Forum on
Fluoridation is due to report to the government in October.

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