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US Health Dept On Board With Removing Fluoride From Water?
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jan 8, 2011
Modified Jan 8, 2011
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jan 8, 2011
Modified Jan 8, 2011
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Any minute now, Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. will introduce a bill to eliminate fluoride from the city's tap water, claiming it "amounts to forced medication by the government." We've contacted him to elaborate a bit more on his ideas, but the US Department of Health and Human Services may be backing him up. According to the Daily News, they now want the maximum of 1 milligram of fluoride per liter set 30% lower. Wait, so they really are after our precious bodily fluids?
In a statement, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Peter Silva says, “Today both HHS and EPA are making announcements on fluoride based on the most up to date scientific data. EPA’s new analysis will help us make sure that people benefit from tooth decay prevention while at the same time avoiding the unwanted health effects from too much fluoride." Both the Health Department and the EPA recognize that dental fluorosis can occur in children under 8 if they consume excess fluoride, which is happening more now that "Americans have access to more sources of fluoride than they did when water fluoridation was first introduced in the United States in the 1940s."
Vallone says that lower levels of fluoride aren't enough. "This is the first real government acknowledgment of the problems," he said. "I want it out. We're way behind the curve on this." But the American Council on Science and Health continues to defend water fluoridation as “one of the most safe and cost-effective public health measures ever introduced....Vallone is calling for more dental caries and more dental morbidity. He ought to speak with some dentists. They’ll tell him how much fluoridation has reduced the incidence of these conditions." Sorry, but you can't reason with an anti-dentite.
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fluoridation
fluoride
peter vallone jr.
us department of health and human services
Jaya Saxena
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