Fluoride Dangerous for Infants

ADA reverses position, warns its members that fluoride is too dangerous to be consumed by infants
by: Ben Kage
Tuesday, November 14, 2006

(NewsTarget) On Nov. 9, the American Dental Association released an email
alert to its members warning that, in order to prevent tooth damage,
fluoridated water should not be mixed into formula or foods intended for
babies aged 1 and younger.

Currently, two-thirds of the U.S. public water supply has fluoride
chemicals added, a move centered on a now-disproved theory that fluoride
ingestion prevents cavities. Research by the Centers for Disease Control
has shown that fluoride absorbs into tooth enamel topically, but ingestion
of the chemical can cause adverse reactions. Also, the CDC admitted that
enamel fluoride concentration was not inversely related to cavities.

Fluoridated bottled water is available in stores across the United States
along with instructions to mix into formula, which is what prompted the
ADA to warn its members.

"Infants could receive a greater than optimal amount of fluoride through
liquid concentrate or powdered baby formula that has been mixed with water
containing fluoride during a time that their developing teeth may be
susceptible to enamel fluorosis," stated the ADA report, describing the
condition marked by pitting and white spotting as well as yellow and/or
brown teeth.

Paul Beeber, lawyer and New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
(NYSCOF) president, noted that news releases from the NYSCOF in 2000 and
2004 cited studies that linked fluorisis to infant foods mixed with
fluoridated water. However, Beeber remarked, it took the ADA until 2006 to
release its alert, right after the FDA disapproved of marketing
fluoridated water to babies in October and the National Research Council
reported that babies are fluoride overdosed from "optimally" fluoridated
water supplies.

"The ADA claims the NRC report didn't question the safety of fluoridation
but it did, as the ADA now admits," Beeber said. "The NRC also revealed
fluoridation's adverse effects to the thyroid gland, diabetics, kidney
patients, high water drinkers and others."

He added that the ADA warning had only gone out to its members, and asked,
"Who will alert parents?"

The Environmental Protection Agency, which sets allowable water fluoride
levels, is required to consider the most vulnerable members of a
population, so allowable fluoride levels should be near zero to protect
infants.

"This should end water fluoridation," Beeber said. "Fluoridation is a
failed concept that must be abandoned before more Americans are harmed."