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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEloise KailinNot/ I 4 20t7 STATETVENTS FROM EURO WATER, & ENVI RONI\4ENT AUTHORITI ES ON WATER FLUORIDATION Fauoride.{crion \eruork | 2007 Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control hails water fluoridation as one of the "top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century," mosr of rhc rr,esrern rrorld, including the vast majority of westem Europe, does not fluoridate its water supply. At present, 97% of the western European population drinks non-fluoridated water. This includes: Austria, Belgium, Denmar\ Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and approximately 90% of both the United Kingdom and Spain. Although some of these countries fluoridate their salt, the majority do not. (The only westem European countries that allow salt fluoridation are Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.) Despite foregoing "one of the top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century" tooth decay rares have declined in Europe as precipitously over the past 50 years as they have in the United States. This raises serious questions about the CDC's assertion that the decline of tooth decay in the United States since the 1950s is largely attributable to the advent of water fluoridation. STATEMENTS FROM EUROPEAN OFFICIALS: Austria: "Toxic fluorides have never been added to the public water supplies in Austria." souRCE: M. Eisenhut, Head of Water Department, Osterreichische Yereinigung fur das Gas-und Wasserfach Schubertring 14, A-1015 Wien, Austda, February 17 ,2000. Belgium: "This water treatment has never been of use in Belgium and will never be (we hope so) into the future. The main reason for that is the fundamental position of the drinking water sector that it is not its task to deliver medicinal treatment to people. This is the sole responsibility of health services." souRCE: Chr. Legros, Directeur, Belgaqua, Brussels, Belgium, February 28, 2000. HI , Denmark: "We are pleased to inform you that according to the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy, toxic fluorides have never been added to the public water supplies. Consequently, no Danish city has ever been fluoridated." souRCE: Klaus Wemer, Royal Danish Embassy, Washington DC, December 22, 1999. To read the Donish Ministry of the Environmenti reasons for banning fluoridotion, click here. Finland: "We do not favor or recommend fluoridation of drinking water. There are befter ways of providing the fluoride our teeth need." souRCE: Paavo Poteri, Acting Managing Director, Helsinki Water, Finland, February 7,2000. "Artificial fluoridation of fuinking water supplies has been practiced in Finland only in one town, Kuopio, situated in eastern Finland and with a population of about 80,000 people (1.6% of the Finnish population). Fluoridation started in 1959 and finished in 1992 as a result of the resistance of local population. The most usual grounds for the resistalce presented in this context were an individual's right to fuinking water without additional chemicals used for the medication of limited population groups. A concept of "force-feeding" was also mentioned. Drinking water fluoridation is not prohibited in Finland but no willing to practice it. Water suppliers, naturally, have always been against dosing of fluoride chemicals into water." souRCE: Leena Hiisvirta, M.Sc., Chief Engineer, Minisuy of Social Alfairs and Health, Finland, January 12, 1996. France: "Fluoride chemicals are not included in the list [of 'chemica]s for drinking water ueatment']. This is due to ethical as well as medical considerations." sot RCE: Louis Sanchez, D ecteur de la Protection de l'Environment, August 25, 2000. have tumed out to be Germany: "Generally, in Germany fluoridation of drinking water is forbidden. The relevant German law allows exceptions to the fluoridation ban on application. The argumentation of the Federal Ministry of Health against a general permission of fluoridation of drinking water is the problematic nature of compuls[ory] medication." souRCE: Gerda Hankel-Khan, Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany, September 16, 1999. Luxembourg: "Fluoride has never been added to the public water supplies in Luxembourg. In our views, the drinking water isn't the suitable way for medicinal Eeatment and that people needing an addition of fluoride can decide by their own to use the most appropriate way, like the intake of fluoride tablets, to cover their ldailyl needs." souRCE: Jean-Marie RIES, Head, Water Department, Administration De L'Environment, May 3, 2000. Netherlands: "From the end of the 1960s until the beginning of the 1970s drinking water in various places in the Netherlands was fluoridated to prevent caries. However, in its judgement of 22 June 1973 in case No. 10683 (Budding and co. versus the City of Amsterdam) the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) ruled there was no legal basis for fluoridation. After that judgement, amendment to the Water Supply Act was prepared to provide a legal basis for fluoridation. During the process it became clear that there was not enough support from Parlement [sic] for this amendment and the proposal was withdrawn." souRCE: Wlfred Reinhold, Legal Advisor, Directorate Drinking Water, Netherlands, January 15, 2000. Northern Ireland: "The water supply in Northern Ireland has never been artificially fluoridated except in 2 small localities where fluoride was added to the water for about 30 ye.rs up to last year. Fluoridation ceased at these t locations for operational reasons. At this time, there are no plans to cornmence fluoridation of water supplies in Northem Ireland." sollRCE: C.J. Grimes, Department for Regional Development, Belfast, November 6, 2000. Norwayl "ln Norway we had a rather intense discussion on this subject some 20 years ago, and the conclusion was that drinking water should not be fluoridated." souRCE: Truls Krogh & Toril Hofshagen, Folkehelsa Statens institutt for folkeheise (National Institute of Public Health) Oslo, Norway, March 1, 2000.E;r Sweden: "Drinking water fluoridation is not allowed in Sweden...New scientific documentation or changes in dental health situation that could alter the conclusions of the Commission have not been shown." souRCE: Gunnar Guzikowski, Chief Govemment Inspector, Livsmedels Verket - National Food Administration Drinking Water Division, Sweden, February 28, 2000. See stotement by Dr. An,id Corlsson, the Nobel Loureate in Medicine, who helped lead the compaign to prevent fluoridation in Sweden in the late 1970s. Czech Republic: "Since 1993, drinking water has not been treated with fluoride in public water supplies throughout the Czech Republic. Although fluoridation of drinking water has not actually been proscribed it is not under consideration because this form of supplementation is considered: uneconomical (only 0.54olo of water suitable for drinking is used as such; the remainder is employed for hygiene etc. Furthermore, an increasing amount of consumers (particularly children) are using bottled water for drinking (underground water usually with fluor) unecological (environmental load by a foreign substance) unethical ("forced medication") toxicologically and physiologically debateable (fluoridation represents an untargeted form of supplementation which disregards actual individual intake and requirements and may lead to excessive health-threatening intake in certain population groups; [and] complexation of fluor in water into non biological active forms of fluor." sol ttcE: Dr. B. Havlik, Ministerstvo ZdravotnicM Ceske Republiky, October 14, 1999. UPDATES May 2007: A study of European public opinion on water fluoridation, published in the journal Communiry Dentistry & orol Epidemiology, repons that the "vast majority of people opposed water fluoridation." According to the study, Europeans opposed fluoridation for the following reasons: "Many felt dental health was an issue to be dealt with at the level of the individual, rather than a solution to be imposed en masse. While people accepted that some children were not encouraged to brush their teeth, they proposed other solutions to addressing these needs rather than having a solution of unproved safety imposed on them by public health authorities whom they did not fully trust. They did not see why they should accept potential side effects in order that a minority may benefit. In particulaq water was something that should be kept as pure as possible, even though it was recognized that it already contains many additives." (See study summary) November 2004: After months of consulation, scorland - which is currently unfluoridated - rejected plans to add fluoride to the nation's water. Aoril 9. 2003: The City Parliament of Br:eL Sr, itzeilan0 voted 73 to 23 to stop Basel's 41 year water fluoridation program. Basel was the only city in Switzerland to fluoridate its watel and the only city in continental western Europe, outside of a few areas in Spain.