Members of The Forum on Fluoridation continue to ‘lie’ and ‘mislead’ the Irish public on the real facts concerning water fluor

Members of The Forum on Fluoridation continue to ‘lie’ and ‘mislead’ the Irish public on the real facts concerning water fluoridation.

On Sunday 26^th August TV3’s 20/20 will broadcast an edited version of its January 2001 programme ‘Hard to Swallow?’ – The Water Fluoridation Debate. In this programme we get an opportunity to see members of the Department of Health and Micheal Martins ‘hand picked’ Forum on Fluoridation attempt to deny the true facts on fluoridation and lie to the Irish public.

Despite internal Department of Health documents released under the Freedom of Information act stating that the fluoridating agent used in 73% of the Irish public’s water supply is ‘hydrofluosilicic acid’, a waste product from the superphosphate fertilizer industry, Dr. Moira O’Connor, author of the ‘Water Fluoridation and Public Health’ report from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and member of the Fluoridation Forum, tells 20/20;

"I’ve been assured by the Department of Health that we get our source of fluoride, not from the phosphate industry, or the fertilizer industry."

20/20 exposes this lie by showing the importers of this ‘hydrofluosilicic acid’, Albatros fertilizers!!! Green TD John Gormley discusses his uncovering of the fact that not just had this acid never been tested for safety on humans, but the Department of Health had not even tested it to establish the toxic chemical content. The Minister for Health had to apologise to John Gormley for initially stating that there was ‘no chromium’ in the acid;

"In November of this year the Minister had to correct himself and apologise to me in that he now knew tests had been carried out showing the presence of chromium. And of course when you get that sort of reply from the Minister and from his Dept…it doesn’t inspire confidence." (John Gormley)

If the Department of Health and members of the Forum cannot be believed about the origin of the fluoridating acid, how can we believe any other unsubstantiated claims?

Dr. O’Connor claims "there’s no evidence other than dental fluorosis that it causes any harm to peoples health." However Dr. Don Mac Auley discusses the growing international scientific evidence linking water fluoridation to hip fractures, bone cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, and decreased fertility, evidence that was strong enough for publication by the prestigious Irish Medical Journal.

Robert J.Carton, PhD, former President of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Union, which publicly called for the halting of the water fluoridation programme in the US in 1997, tells 20/20;

"The levels that they are putting in water, that they are recommending, are dangerous, dangerous to your health; skeletal fluorosis, accumulation in brain over long period of time, bone fractures, all these things have been shown, there have been lots and lots of studies."

Two prominent members of the Forum on Fluoridation cannot even get their story straight on the level of dental fluorosis (structural damage to teeth caused by water fluoridation) present in the Irish population. Chief Dental Officer of the Department of Health, Dr. Gerard Gavin tells 20/20 "Our latest research would show that our levels of fluorosis… …we have about 6% very mild, and about 4% mild from our latest studies."

When it is pointed out to Dr. Gavin that fellow Forum member Professor O’Mullane is on the record as saying "We find that approximately 50% of the population who reside in fluoridated communities have this very mild, very questionable change in the appearance in the enamel", Dr. Gavin states "I think Professor O’Mullane has corrected that quotation. That’s a misquote." Further investigation by 20/20 sees Professor O’Mullane agree that he did in fact make this statement, and it is therefore not a misquote.