Help responding to a letter to the local paper

[mattyk]

Hi folks

I am looking for a little help responding to a letter to the editor to my local newspaper.

A bit of back story. I am from the the Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia. The beautiful part of the world where sadly Meryl Dorey (Australian Vaccination Network) calls home.
At the moment the local water board has concluded after a comprehensive feasibility study that fluoride will be added to the water supply for the communities benefit. It is one of the few remaining areas of NSW that aren't already doing so.

So anyway this letter appeared in Thursday's paper

Rous Water fluoridation intentions likened to bullying NS 12/03
Why is the APN (Northern Star, Advocate, etc) media stable only going after school bullying?
What of the forced fluoridation (aka bullying) of the children and the community?
The repercussions of cancer can bankrupt citizens.
The editorial (NS 27/02) demands an answer to a basic and straightforward question on this.
Fine, but what of the origin of the silicofluoride as admitted by the Rous Water report that is to used in Ballina drinking etc. water? Where does it originate? And what chemical elements are in this substance?
Would a citizen be charged under NSW/federal environmental laws if s/he added the silicofluorides to the drains of Ballina or the Richmond River?
Australia needs an open public inquiry (with coercive powers) into the fluorides.
The rest of the world has rejected the (low-quality Australian, etc.) science of fluoridation. And, epidemiological studies (U.S.A., etc) of fluoridated cities and controlled (unfluoridated cities have shown correlations of increased cancer deaths/risks to the fluoridated cities.
Studies have been challenged during court proceedings and found to be correct in methodology, statistics etc.
Ian Ward, Ballina.

I am pretty good with addressing the cancer parts and I think the "Rest of the World" part. The Skeptoid podcast on water fluoridation has been incredibly useful.

The information I am struggling to find is on is "silicofluoride". If anyone can point me in the right direction on that it would be great.

And if there is any other points that can be made let me know.

Here is what I have so far.

- There has been one study that found an increased number of bone tumours in male rats that consumed water high in fluoride over two years. The study by Bucher, Hejtmancik, Toft, et al. (1990) is often cited as the spark in the fluoride/cancer debate however what is not often reported is that the female rats and both the male and female mice used in the study show no evidence of this.
- In 1991 the US Public Health Service report could find no evidence of an association of fluoride and cancer after reviewing 50 epidemiological studies over 40 years.
- One of these studies by the National Cancer Institute of America studied 2.2 million cancer death records and 125,00 cancer case records in regions that fluoridated water and could find no indication of increased cancer.
However the best line about the lack of harm shown by fluoridated water is by Kevin Hoover the editor of the Arcata, California's local newspaper he stated:
"There are no known victims. If there was a problem with municipal fluoridation, wouldn't we have at least a few people who showed some signs of harm after 44 years? All the anti-fluoride people could say was that the victims are "undiagnosed," but not why. They produced no victims, just lots of dubious statistics and horror stories with no provenance"

- I am curious to know what Mr Ward means by the rest of the world. Does it include Europe and South America? In both places it is common practice is to fluoridate salt or milk.

Thanks in advance

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Drop the first point. There is no reason to start quoting individual studies. (Particularly negative ones. )

If you want to collect official world-wide government positions, here is mine:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/fluor-eng.php

Health Benefits of Fluorides The use of fluoride for the prevention of dental cavities is endorsed by over 90 national and international professional health organizations including Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States and the World Health Organization.
Fluorides protect tooth enamel against the acids that cause tooth decay. Many studies have shown that fluoridated drinking water greatly reduces the number of cavities in children's teeth. Fluoride is used in many communities across Canada, spanning most provinces and territories. About 40 percent of Canadians receive fluoridated water.

 

[Dancing David]

There are some ethnicspopulations in the US that do not get dental benefit from flouridation, but as to negative effects I haven't read any. (And the negative dental effects may have changed, it has been a while since I looked at the reasearch)

I looked and the research data seems to have changed, there sure is a lot of woo out there, there used to be a some research that flouridation did not help in Latino populations.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

I hope you don't plan to send off a letter to be written in a newspaper in bullet point form. I don't think that'd be favourably received.