Region of Peel needs 90 days to hunt for fluoride/pregnancy studies

Region of Peel needs 90 days to hunt for fluoride/pregnancy studies

Health authorities that insist for decades that fluoridated water is safe for everyone, and then respond to a Freedom of Information request by saying they need to spend 35 hours over an extended 90 day period to search for studies showing that fluoride exposure during pregnancy is actually safe with respect to childhood IQ and ADHD symptoms?

Yes, that is what we’re dealing with in the Region of Peel, as evidenced in the letter posted below.

Despite:

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  • a looming lawsuit,
  • 4 years of committee investigation,
  • a Regional Medical Officer’s literature review just a few years ago,
  • years of controversy and questions from the public,
  • Council repeatedly made aware of the recent studies that prompted the FOI request,
  • Public Health Staff’s insistence that they carefully monitor the scientific literature, and
  • the Region’s incessant claims that our drinking water is safe for everyone…
 … the Region’s Public Health Staff and Health Commissioner are so unfamiliar with the primary fluoride studies in their possession, and the Region’s fluoride-related scientific records are in such a state of disarray and chaos, that someone must now spend 35 hours, at a cost of over $1000 to taxpayers, hunting and hoping to find studies.

 

Peel fee est June 5 2019 p1 Peel fee est June 5 2019 p2 Peel fee est June 5 2019 p3

Email response sent to Peel Staff, Fri, Jun 7, 3:49 PM:

 

Dear Ms. Allibhai,
In regards to the letter dated June 5, 2019 from Ms. Adams to myself (attached), containing a fee estimate of $1074.90, I was astonished by this estimate and want to make sure that there has not been some sort of misunderstanding.
To my understanding, an MFIPPA information request is for records that are under the custody/control of the institution (in this case, scientific studies that are downloaded to a computer, printed in hard copy, etc).  Therefore, any studies matching my description of requested items but not actually in the possession of the Region would not be included.  So there were be no need for anyone to search anywhere outside the Region’s own files.
And, there is no need for anyone to go looking through reviews such as Health Canada’s 2010 Fluoride in Drinking Water report, or the 2006 NRC report Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards, or searching the Internet, for citations of applicable studies.
Also, I specified only primary studies.  This means that I am not interested in receiving any secondary or derivative works, such as article reviews, research reviews, or meta-analyses.
And, I specified studies that have already been relied upon by Public Health Staff, the Health Commissioner, and/or the Region, when insisting that water fluoridation is safe for everyone.
Therefore, the only need is for someone to “pull up” the primary studies that are already in the Region’s possession and have already been relied upon by Staff, the Health Commissioner, and/or the Region (if any actually exist).
With respect to water fluoridation at the Region of Peel, there has been:
  • Liesa Cianchino’s legal threat,
  • 4 years of committee investigation,
  • Dr. de Villa’s literature review a few years ago,
  • years of controversy and questions from the public,
  • Council made aware repeatedly of the recent studies that prompted my request,
  • Public Health Staff’s insistence that they carefully monitor the situation and the scientific literature, and
  • the Region’s incessant claims that our drinking water is safe for everyone.
So, I’m sure you can understand my astonishment when advised that 35 hours and an extra 60 days are now needed in order to complete the necessary search.
Ms. Adams’ letter indicates, unless there has been some misunderstanding, that the Region’s Public Health Staff and Health Commissioner (from whom Council takes advice) are so unfamiliar with the primary fluoride studies in their possession, and that the Region’s fluoride-related scientific records are in such a state of disarray and chaos, that someone must now spend 35 hours searching and hoping to find studies demonstrating the safety of fluoride’s prenatal effects on childhood IQ and ADHD symptoms.
I can only imagine how unsettling it would be for the public to learn that the Region’s Medical Officer and Health Commissioner don’t have this information at their fingertips.
Also, my request specified that if any responsive records are located, pdf documents be sent to me via email; I do not want anything shipped to me.   Therefore I do not understand the $25 in charges quoted by Ms. Adams for a USB key and shipping.
Please let me know if there has been some misunderstanding.  Hopefully I will receive a response by the 12th.  If not, I will go ahead and request a review of the fee estimate by the IPC.
One final question, at the top of page 2 Ms. Adams wrote “Based on the review of the representative sample...”  Did Ms. Adams mean to imply that “a sample” of primary, peer-reviewed studies of fluoride exposure during pregnancy demonstrating the safety of fluoride’s prenatal effects on childhood IQ and ADHD symptoms has been found among the Region’s files?  If not, what did she mean by “the representative sample”?

Best wishes,

Christine Massey, M.Sc.

FOI REQUEST SUBMITTED TO REGION OF PEEL, MAY 3, 2019

 

Subject: FOI Request: peer-reviewed papers on fluoride exposure during pregnancy

Dear Clerk,
This is a Freedom of Information Request for Access to General Records, made under MFIPPA I will mail in or drop off my $5 application fee.
 
 
Background

Two important studies examining total exposure to fluoride during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental effects in offspring, by Bashash et al., were published in late 2017 and late 2018.  Both were funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and conducted by an international team that included researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and various other universities and institutions.Both studies used data collected from mother-child pairs followed in Mexico City, with measurements of total fluoride exposure at various time points obtained from urine samples starting in pregnancy.  Both studies found that higher total fluoride exposure in pregnancy is related to worse outcomes in children.  Specifically, the researchers found lower IQs and increased ADHD symptoms in the children whose mothers had the higher total fluoride exposures.A third study by Till et al. published in late 2018, also funded by the U.S. government, found that the total fluoride exposures of Canadian pregnant women in fluoridated cities are very similar to those of the mothers in the Bashash et al. studies.  It also found that pregnant women in Canadian fluoridated cities have double the fluoride exposure as compared those in unfluoridated cities and that drinking water is the major source of fluoride exposure for pregnant women in Canada.
 

Public Health Ontario’s review of the 2017 Bashash el al IQ study entitled Article Review on “Prenatal Fluoride Exposure and Cognitive Outcomes in Children at 4 and 6–12 Years of Age in Mexico” (https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/fluroide-iq-mexico.pdf?la=en) stated that:

  • ” Previous research in the area of fluoride exposure and neurological outcomes during childhood has often been limited by small sample sizes and/or ecological study designs. The study by Bashash et al. is a considerable improvement over previous research given the large population size and the availability of individual level data to assess both exposure and outcome.”
  • “…a 0.5mg/L increase in maternal urinary fluoride was associated with a decrease in GCI of 3.15 points (95% CI: -5.42,-0.87), and a decrease in IQ of 2.50 points (95%CI: -4.12, -0.59).”
  • “The authors used linear regression, adjusting for a number of potential confounders…”
  • “Another strength of the study design is that exposure was measured during what is perhaps the most vulnerable window of neurological development in children, the prenatal period….”
References

1.  Prenatal Fluoride Exposure and Cognitive Outcomes in Children at 4 and 6–12 Years of Age in Mexico
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp655September 19, 2017 Press Release from University of Toronto:
Fluoride exposure in utero linked to lower IQ in kids, study says
https://media.utoronto.ca/u-of-t-in-the-news/fluoride-exposure-in-utero-linked-to-lower-iq-in-kids-study-says/2.  Prenatal fluoride exposure and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children at 6–12 years of age in Mexico City
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412018311814October 10, 2018 Press Release from Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto:
Higher levels of urinary fluoride associated with ADHD in children:

’“Our findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence suggesting that the growing fetal nervous system may be negatively affected by higher levels of fluoride exposure,” said Dr. Morteza Bashash, the study’s lead author and researcher at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health…

… The research team — including experts from the University of Toronto, York University, the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, University of Michigan, Indiana University, the University of Washington and Harvard School of Public Health…

… This work builds off of previous research the team published on this population demonstrating that higher levels of urine fluoride during pregnancy are associated with lower scores on tests of IQ and cognition in the school-age children.’

http://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/2018/10/higher-levels-of-urinary-fluoride-associated-with-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd-in-children/

3.  Study: Community Water Fluoridation and Urinary Fluoride Concentrations in a National Sample of Pregnant Women in Canada
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/pdf/10.1289/EHP3546

October 10, 2018 Press Release from York University:
Study: Fluoride levels in pregnant women in Canada show drinking water is primary source of exposure to fluoride

“The research was conducted as part of a larger study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) investigating whether early life exposure to fluoride affects the developing brain.

    “We found that fluoride in drinking water was the major source of exposure for pregnant women living in Canada. Women living in fluoridated communities have two times the amount of fluoride in their urine as women living in non-fluoridated communities,” said Christine Till, an associate professor of Psychology in York’s Faculty of Health and lead author on the study…

… The levels of fluoride among pregnant women living in fluoridated communities in Canada were similar with levels reported in a prior study of pregnant women living in Mexico City where fluoride is added to table salt.

“This finding is concerning because prenatal exposure to fluoride in the Mexican sample has been associated with lower IQ in children. New evidence published today in Environment International also reported an association between higher levels of fluoride in pregnancy and inattentive behaviours among children in the same Mexican sample,” said Till.”

http://news.yorku.ca/2018/10/10/study-fluoride-levels-in-pregnant-women-in-canada-show-drinking-water-is-primary-source-of-exposure-to-fluoride/

 
Description of Requested Items:
 
1. All of the primary, peer-reviewed scientific research papers on fluoride exposure from community water fluoridation during pregnancy published in scientific journals during the last 73 years showing that fluoride exposure from community water fluoridation during pregnancy is safe with respect to IQ and ADHD symptoms in human offspring, relied upon by Public Health Staff, the Health Commissioner and/or the Region when advising Council and the public that water fluoridation is safe for everyone.
 
2. All other primary, peer-reviewed scientific research papers on fluoride exposure during pregnancy published in scientific journals during the last 73 years showing that the fluoride exposure during pregnancy is safe with respect to IQ and ADHD symptoms in human offspring, relied upon by Public Health Staff, the Health Commissioner and/or the Region when advising Council and the public that water fluoridation is safe for everyone.
 
 
Format:
Pdf documents sent to me via email; I do not want anything shipped to me.
Contact Information:
Last name: Massey
First name: Christine
Address: XXX
Phone: XX
Email: cmssyc@gmail.com

Best wishes,
Christine Massey, M.Sc.