Dear Mayor Bain and councillors of Lakeshore:
I am sending this email as a expert in fluoride research. I am hopeful that your decision to refuse to accept fluoridated water from Windsor, which is planning to reinstate fluoridation, will be the turning point in the decision in Windsor Essex county and keep the area fluoridation free. https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/jarvis-another-potential-game-changer-in-the-fluoride-debate/
In my opinion, the new Windsor council made a huge mistake and I will try to explain why.
Here is my background as a fluoride expert: I have a PhD in Biochemistry (1979) and a dental degree (1983) from University of Toronto. As a professor-dental scientist, I received many national grants to do laboratory and clinical research, mostly on the effects of fluoride on teeth and bones. At the same time, I maintained my own part-time dental office. It was in both my dental practice and supervising the thousands of patients in the Faculty of Dentistry clinics in my program that I noticed that almost every second child had some form of dental fluorosis (see below).
I was one of 12 scientists in North America chosen to serve on the U.S. National Academy of Science’s committee that produced the 2006 report Fluoride in Drinking Water. Taking three years to complete, we reviewed over 1,000 studies. That report is still considered the most authoritative, comprehensive work ever done on the toxicity of fluoride.
After completing a PhD in Biochemistry, I was trained in traditional dentistry and for many years accepted the prevailing opinion of the establishment in Canada and the U.S. that water fluoridation is “safe and effective.”
I was mistaken.
As I intensively studied the literature and performed my own research, the evidence clearly demonstrated that fluoridation is more harmful than beneficial. In 1999, I publicly changed my position. In doing so, I joined the vast majority of nations, cities and medical organizations throughout the world that do not endorse fluoridation. Indeed, 95% of the world’s population drinks unfluoridated water.
Our NAS committee concluded unanimously that fluoride could harm the functions of several human organs in addition to developing teeth. These include the brain, the skeletal system (from which our immunity is derived), the thyroid and the kidney. We also determined that much more research needed to be done, especially regarding fluoride’s effects on the brain, kidney disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism and cancer.
Nearly 13 years later, much research has been done, including major neurotoxicity studies led by Canadian and American scientists. A 2017 petition to the U.S. EPA to end fluoridation documented that fluoride caused brain and/or central nervous system damage (mainly lowered IQ in children) in 57 out of 61 human studies, several at levels in fluoridated water, and 112 out of 115 animal studies. Moreover, our NAS review concluded unequivocally that fluoride lowers thyroid function. Hypothyroidism (low thyroid levels) in pregnant women is known to be linked to lower IQ’s in their children.
I have been alarmed at the skyrocketing rates of dental fluorosis, an irreversible disease caused by an excess of fluoride ingestion in small children. It causes a staining of the teeth with white streaks and spots at mild levels and structural damage with yellow and brown stains at the moderate and severe levels. In the U.S., which fluoridates far more than Canada, the latest study (Neurath, Limeback et al, JDR Clin Trans Res, 2019 in press) found it has reached epidemic proportions – it now afflicts 72% of all 12-15-year-olds, with 27.9% moderate and 2.8% severe. All sources of ingested fluoride contribute to this toxic load, but water is by far the largest contributor. Higher fluorosis levels in children have also been linked to lower IQ’s.
In this ongoing debate, this is what is perhaps the most disturbing to me: both before and after our 2006 report, fluoridation advocates have declared, with certainty, that fluoridation is safe for everyone. This assertion was, and is, contradicted by the science and is totally unjustified.
Why do so many dentists and others in Canada and the U.S. support this practice? Most people follow the pronouncements of authority figures like Health Canada, the U.S. CDC and dental associations.
I can’t speak for any individual, but I believe most people, inside and outside the government, haven’t reviewed the literature, especially on health risks. If they had, I think most would change their minds.
What concerns me the most in the Windsor Essex County debates is that an extremely flawed survey was presented to Windsor Council. It did NOT provide evidence that dental decay went up after fluoridation cessation in Windsor.
Here are just a few of the flaws of the Windsor Essex County Health Unit oral report.
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1. The few children ‘assessed’ were not professionally (by dental standards) or scientifically (by epidemiological standards) examined.
2. The methods of ‘assessment’ were extremely cursory (10 to 30 seconds), conducted by dental hygienists (who are not allowed to diagnose dental decay in Ontario), without even touching the student. This clearly is both unprofessional and unscientific.
3. The reporting that dental decay had increased using this crude ‘assessment’ technique is not only flawed but scientifically fraudulent, claiming that the increase was due to the cessation of fluoridation. The report presents no data to support that. In fact the report does show that the crude data shows no difference between never fluoridated areas in the county versus fluoridation ended Windsor. There was no correction for socioeconomic status so these data are not reliable.
4. Dental fluorosis was reported only children entering the school (at the kindergarten level). There is no way any of them would have had teeth present that normally are examined (in the dental literature, dental fluorosis is always measured on the front permanent teeth (Canada, New Zealand) or all permanent teeth (USA). The examinations are done carefully, usually after drying the teeth and under proper lighting. Children at age 12 to 16 are usually examined. Reporting zero fluorosis for group of children who are age 5 and under (missing all their permanent teeth) is scientific fraud.
When asked by a councillor about the rise in dental decay before fluoridation cessation, Dr. Ahmed was unfamiliar with the report and tried to have the epidemiologist answer that concern. Although the data is flawed, it appeared that the councillor was correct. This reminded me of the claim made by Dr. L. McLaren about dental decay rates going up in fluoridation ended Calgary. We published a critique of that study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28994462): a similar situation applies to Windsor.
Taken together it is clear that the WECHU oral health report was misleading the Windsor council and was produced very unscientifically.
It is especially damaging that there were claims made, based on the report, that there would be continued increased dental costs to the poor, especially when it came to hospital day surgeries related to dental emergencies, when clearly there was no data to support that.
The evidence supporting the harm from fluoridation is already extensive. It was clear to me in 1999 that scientists had already compiled enough data to call for its cessation. In the two decades since, hundreds of studies have further validated my earlier conclusions.
When asked, Dr. Ahmed was unable to address the concerns of the new evidence of harm, such as prenatal exposure and lower IQ and harm to the developing thyroid gland.
I formally request that this email be added to the town’s records for any future meetings where fluoridation will be discussed.
Thank you very much for your consideration in this important matter.
Sincerely
Dr. Hardy Limeback BSc PhD (Biochem) DDS
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
Former Head of Preventive Dentistry
Member of the 2006 US NAS Committee on Fluoride in Drinking Water