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uonderuoman.
User deleted
I am campaigning for a change in clinical practice re interpretation of thyroid blood tests results and treatment of thyroid conditions.
Over a period of 23 years I was misdiagnosed 6 times with serious diseases and treated for them all. The diseases, epilepsy, coeliac disease (allergy to the protein in wheat and rye. I was on the coeliac diet for 11 years), polymyalgia rheumatica (muscle disease, treated with high doses of steroids), depression, ME, (myalgicencephalomyelitis) and myasthenia gravis ( a very grave muscle disease and again treated with high doses of steroids ), I was treated for the latter disease for 2.5 years.
Eventually I was directed to Dr Durrant-Peatfield, Surrey. He diagnosed a low thyroid condition. Previous blood tests for low thyroid function were in the 'normal range'.
I was started cautiously on thyroid replacement therapy and after 2 weeks my head cleared ( from the fog ). After that, progressively, week by week, good health returned to me.....................................
..... met up with Dr Gordon Skinner MD (Hons) DSc FRCPath FRCOG a Consultant Virologist and spoke to him of my theories. Dr Skinner had a great interest in ME/CFS( myalgicencephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome). He asked if I would assist him at his clinics. I did this for nearly three years, and I was horrified at the condition of the patients when they arrived at the clinic. Some arrived in wheelchairs and were so obviously poorly, (it took me right back in time). Others were just literally on 'automatic'. No real life about them, no sense of humour and a hopeless despair in their body language.
http://www.thyroidtears.co.uk/Introduction.%20html
http://www.thyroidtears.co.uk/problemswithdiagnosisand.html
Hypothyroidism (under active thyroid gland) can go undetected for many years, because unfortunately most of the medical profession are relying totally on the ‘reference ranges’ set for the blood test results of thyroid conditions INSTEAD OF USING THEM AS AN INDICATOR ONLY. This problem is world wide!
Sir Richard Bayliss a Trustee of the British Thyroid Foundation UK states, "The reference values are made up of 95% fiducial limits of so-called healthy people".
Now let’s break this down into language we can understand. It is, ‘an assumed fixed basis of comparison of so-called healthy people’. The words ‘assumed’ and ‘so-called’ are very loose. Therefore if the starting point of the reference values is flexible so the interpretation of the blood test result must be also be flexible. This is not happening. There is too much rigidity upon interpretation!
The blood test for measuring the levels of thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH) is said to be the most sensitive test and is the most commonly used blood test for measuring thyroid hormones. Does it tell us how much of the hormones are usable? REF: Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness’ by Dr Broda O Barnes and Lawrence Galton ISBN 0-690-01029-X - Publisher - Harper & Row Publishers, New York.
Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) produced from the pituitary prompts the thyroid gland to produce hormones. When the TSH is raised above the reference interval the patient is diagnosed with either ‘sub-clinical’ hypothyroidism (symptoms usually absent) or ‘overt’ hypothyroidism (symptoms usually present). According to Weetman: Definition of hypothyroidism BMJ Symptoms are not considered a criterion for sub-clinical hypothyroidism by some authorities! INTERESTING!
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1 TSH levels are normal in approximately 50% of patients with hypothyroidism secondary to hypothalamic or pituitary disease.REF: Secondary thyroid disorders - Medicine International 1993 The Medicine Group (Journals) Ltd.
1 livelli di TSH sono normali in circa il 50% dei pazienti con ipotiroidismo ipotalamico o secondaria a malattia ipofisaria.
http://www.thyroidtears.co.uk/fluorideantagonist.html
FLUORIDE THE GREAT THYROID ANTAGONIST There are other reasons why there is a preponderance of thyroid conditions today, beside the "faux pas" that is made by the medical profession.
http://www.thyroidtears.co.uk/wecanmakeadifference.html
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HYPOTHYROIDISM (under active thyroid Gland)Set out below are some of the signs and symptoms of an under active thyroid gland
Exhaustion - tiredness all the time (known as “tatt” within the medical profession) ---------esaustione -
Cold and heat intolerance -----------intolleranza a caldo e freddo
Weight gain--------------aumento di peso
Hair loss------------------perdita capelli
Extremely dry skin--------pelle molto secca
Palpitations----------------palpitazioni
Insomnia-----------------insonnia
Hoarse voice--------------voce rauca
Short term memory loss---------perdita di memoria a breve termine
Persecution complex--------complessi di persecuzione
Mood swings.-----------------------cambiamenti d'umore
Plus many more signs and symptoms.---------altri sintomi
Thyroid Function Test (TFT)
The word normal, as in ‘normal’ blood test result’, has been and is used today by the medical profession en masse, including biochemists and pharmaceutical companies in their clinical trials protocol.
This is but one example of unacceptable terminology that has been subsumed into medical literature and vocabulary, which has resulted in the controversy that surrounds DMH and failure to detect every case of hypothyroidism.
Today hundreds of thousands of people in the UK and millions worldwide are suffering with a chronic illness, namely hypothyroidism - undetected. The medical profession is ignorant of the true number of sufferers of hypothyroidism this is due to the use of incorrect terminology and total reliance on TFT results.
.....Misdiagnoses
ME/CFS/PVS, Fibromyalgia and depression appear to be the target misdiagnoses for this overt indifference by some members of the medical profession. The accusers have no hard evidence to support their claims. Claims that a sufferer of many hypothyroid symptoms whose TFT result lies within the reference interval does not have a thyroid condition.
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..............Experts in the laboratory diagnosis of thyroid disease do not stop to point out that in individual cases the levels of thyroid hormones may well be within the so-called ‘normal range’ in patients with thyroid disease, and the existing disease can only be diagnosed properly by investigating the spectrum of factors contributing to the regulation of thyroid metabolism.
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INTENDED GUIDELINES FOR THYROID FUNCTION TEST. linee guida tst di funzionalità tiroideaFor many years the reference interval for (TSH) in the UK has been approximately 0.4-5 mU/L, dependent on the assay pack which is used. Recently new guidelines for the TSH reference interval have been suggested by the British Thyroid Association (BTA) and the Association for Clinical Biochemistry (ACB) and the British Thyroid Foundation (BTF).
They suggest remarkably that, “TSH levels >10mU/L combined with an FT4 below the reference range indicates the presence of overt primary hypothyroidism in ambulant subjects.” [7]
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..The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and The National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB) issued revised guidelines for the testing of TSH in 2002 and encouraged doctors to refrain from using a TSH level of 0.5-5 but instead use a narrower margin based on a TSH level of 0.3 to 3.04. [9] Later these guidelines were revised yet again in 2004 with a TSH level of 0.4 -2.5.
In Australia the TSH level is 0.3-3.5 [11]
..Additionally Zöphel, Wunderlich and Kotzerke stated, “Should We Really Determine a Reference Population for the Definition of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone Reference Interval? The NACB recommended the use of˜ 2.5 mIU/L˜ 4mIU/L, because reference populations, on which the definition of the reference interval is based, contain individuals experiencing an initial phase of autoimmune thyroid disease, thus skewing the upper reference limit of TSH”. [12]
MISDIAGNOSES
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.......A great number of patients are misdiagnosed with ME/CFS because their TFT results lie within the reference interval. The medical profession has used and is using today the diagnosis of ME/CFS as a ‘dumping ground for these patients.
ME/CFS/FIBROMYALGIA
These three conditions present with the same remarkable variability of signs and symptoms from day-to-day and even from hour-to-hour as do the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism. Each condition can be triggered by a virus, shock or it can be genetic. In fact the similarities are amazing!
Importantly, Dr Gordon Skinner (virologist) has treated hundreds of patients diagnosed with ME/CFS but who presented with hypothyroid signs and symptoms,
although their thyroid function test results were within the ‘reference interval’. The majority of Dr Skinner’s patients returned to full health after treatment for a thyroid condition. Skinner, Holmes, Ahmed, Davies and Benitez ‘Clinical Response to Thyroxine Sodium in Clinically Hypothyroid but Biochemically Euthyroid Patients’ [20]
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ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS ON THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM BY CHEMICALS THAT ARE KNOWN ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS
? Developmental and behavioural disorders
? Neurological disorders
? Infertility
? Fatigue
? Decreased mental capacity
? Learning disabilities
? Attention deficit/hyperactive disorder
? Autism
? Anger and propensity to violence
? Immunological disorders
? Short term memory loss
? Cancers
? Heart disease
? Breathing problems
? Obesity
? Pancreatic disorders eg diabetes mellitus
? Reproductive disorders
The conditions listed above can be manifested in the condition of hypothyroidism, (under active thyroid gland) although a person need not be suffering from all of these at one time to be classified as hypothyroid.
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WATER
Fluorosilicic acid is a waste product from the phosphate fertiliser industry taken from chimney scrubbings and added to domestic water supplies worldwide and it is ostensibly to prevent dental caries. It is doing untold damage to our endocrine systems. It is nothing short of mass medication without a single thought for long term effects on the health of the individuals affected. Fluoride is cumulative in the body. Goldenburg was the first to take advantage of the now much-observed iodine-fluoride antagonism. He deliberated that, because fluoride was the reason behind iodine deficiency/goitre areas, it would therefore reduce the iodine levels in Basedow patients and began to use fluoride effectively to cure Basedow’s disease – hyperthyroidism caused by excessive iodine consumption. Why today, is fluoride added to our domestic water supplies? [35]
AGRICULTURAL RUN-OFFS
**Fertiliser and pesticide run-offs during rainfall adds to the level of contamination in surface waters e.g. rivers and lakes. The World Health Organisation has stated that “Herbicides – because of their frequent use near water bodies have often been found in surface water. Furthermore many of those herbicides are fairly mobile in the soil and readily migrate into ground water.”
Industrial Accidents - Besides the addition of toxic chemicals into the environment there is also the risk of industrial accidents.
This cannot be ignored! The Bhopal disaster in India in 1984 polluted large volumes of water. The explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in the Ukraine in 1986 manifested dust, which travelled and spread over many countries and the effects are still being felt today. Many children in the area of Chernobyl have had or have thyroid cancer. Many children in the North Wales area of the UK contracted leukaemia. In the UK there was an accident at a water works in 1988 with aluminium sulphate.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) should be added to the list of toxic chemicals. Professor Frederick vom Saal, University of Missouri was interviewed by Doug Hamilton in 1998, (Producer of Frontline’s “Fooling with Nature”). It was stated that every four years one trillion pounds of plastics are made in the world, which subsequently are thrown into landfills and leach back into ground water and surface water. How much more is dumped into landfills today 8 years later?
It is to be remembered that the majority of chemical breakdown is in the liver and therefore the liver is under a great deal of stress from unwanted contamination. Most of the conversion of thyroid hormones e.g. from T4 hormone to T3 hormone takes **place in the liver and therefore this action can be compromised.
Those suffering with any of the diseases or conditions listed below need a reappraisal of the illness or condition in the light of the evidence in this paper.
URGENT INVESTIGATION IS NEEDED FOR THOSE SUFFERING WITH: -
? ME/CFS/PVS/FIBROMYALGIA
? DEPRESSION
? POST NATAL DEPRESSION
? INFERTILITY
? CERTAIN CONDITIONS LINKED TO HEART DISEASE – possibly linked to hypothyroidism. E.g. high cholesterol levels, blood clotting problems, and/or high blood pressure.
? ADD & ADHD – CHILDREN & YOUTH in schools
? ADD & ADHD – YOUNG OFFENDERS – Those serving sentences in the young offenders units.
? ADD & ADHD – ADULT OFFENDERS – Those serving prison sentences.
? ADD & ADHD - ADULTS
? ALZHEIMER’S
? SENILE DEMENTIA
? OBESITY
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Gordon RB Skinner MD (Hons) DSc, FRCPath FRCOG
22, Alcester Road
Moseley
Birmingham
B13 8BE
Tel/Fax 0121 449 8895
15th May 2007
Dear Patient,
I thought it proper to advise that on the 2nd July of this year I have been asked to attend a Fitness to Practise hearing of the General Medical Council where it is alleged that I have impaired fitness to practise and am prescribing inappropriately and putting my patients at risk. This is not the arena to debate these issues but suffice to say that I refute these allegations without qualification. I believe I have helped many patients return to health and am unaware of any significant adverse effect in any of my patients.
I also believe that there is no case to answer and am presently arguing that this Fitness to Practise should not take place. The only silver lining is that it may highlight the manifest shortfall in the diagnosis and management of patients with hypothyroidism however the other side of the coin is that if I be found ‘guilty’ (Lord knows of what!) then other practitioners will become too terrified to diagnose and prescribe adequate thyroid replacement. It has been ‘relatively cheering’ that colleagues particularly in general practice have continued to refer patients and have not been influenced by this silliness where a difference in academic opinion with no harm to any patient has been transmuted into allegations of mispractice by the GMC.
My patients fall into different ‘categories’. The majority return to the care of the Family Practitioner who prescribes thyroid replacement and monitors the progress of the patient. This is the general objective and the ideal outcome; there remains two other arrangements which could be problematical.
1. Some of you are monitored by regular visit to the Clinic but your Family Practitioner provides your prescription. We can resolve this situation by discussion between your Family Practitioner and myself and should not pose a difficulty particularly if you are now more or less stabilised and returned to optimal health at your present level of medication.
2. The difficulty may arise if you only attend the Clinic and I monitor your progress and/or provide your prescription for thyroid replacement. The saving grace here is that I have been scrupulous in writing to your Family Practitioner on each and every occasion you have attended the clinic and thus your Family Practitioner will be well versed and up to date with your thyroid status and level of thyroid replacement. However it is an inevitable that there could be a difference of opinion and your Family Practitioner may not agree with the diagnosis or the level of your replacement or the display of triiodothyronine (tertroxin, T3) or Armour Thyroid; I know that some of you get very tense about this but I emphasise that this does not represent a horrendous controversy between your Family Practitioner and the work of the Clinic! The first step here will be for me to discuss your case with your Family Practitioner and try to find a sensible accommodation. This might (for example) involve a short trial of thyroxine versus tertroxin or Armour Thyroid which, if not successful, most Family Practitioners will agree to reversion to a medication which had been hitherto successful. I am saying that in all but the most deep-rooted differences of opinion this should again be resolvable by good will on both sides.
On this aspect I would encourage you to not charge off and obtain medications via the Internet. This is not because these are necessarily suspect or sham preparations but because it is important that a medical practitioner is able to monitor your clinical progress and, if indicated, your thyroid chemistry at appropriate stages in your management.
This is an issue whose implications extend beyond the present discussion and is a matter which the GMC and the Department of Health need to give sensible consideration. In the absolute last analysis, if a patient feels that his/her health is being prejudiced by lack of thyroid medication and has run into indifference or obduracy by ‘us lot’ then the patient may feel – and it is difficult to argue against this - that they have a right to optimal health with or without the assistance of my profession. Nevertheless, I do plead that prior to this recourse, you allow your Family Practitioner and/or myself to try to resolve this problem for you.
I do regret having to write to you in this way but I think it would be irresponsible to not advise you of the present situation without a back-up strategy. I hope there will be a favourable outcome.
I had one bit of good news; I am going to be a Granddad in September!
Kind regards,
Gordon R B Skinner MD, DSc, FRCOG, FRCPath
Dr Skinner
Thyroid Replacement in Clinically Hypothyroid Patients who have Free Thyroxine or Thyroid Stimulating Hormone within 95% Reference Intervals; Report; 23.07.07.
There is controversy in the medical profession on the advisability of thyroid replacement in patients whose thyroid chemistry in particular the free thyroxine (FT4) and or thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) lie outside the laboratory 95% reference intervals. This is a central issue in an ongoing GMC v Skinner Fitness to Practice Hearing which has been deferred until September 2007 pending the outcome of judicial review.
I thought it would be relevant to establish in part measure what proportion of colleagues practicing endocrinology had ever provided thyroid replacement in these situations (Tables 1, 2 and 3).
A total of 173 respondents replied within 28 days of receiving the questionnaire wherein 56 of the respondents requested anonymity. There were 93% respondents who had at least once provided thyroid replacement to patients with TSH level above the 95% reference intervals with a lesser proportion of 69% for patients with FT4 level below the lower limit of the 95% reference interval and a lower but significant proportion (12%) where both were inside the 95% reference intervals. There was little difference in results between eponymous and anonymous respondents.
These conclusions do not engross information on the precise levels of thyroid hormone within a given reference interval. This matter is often cheerfully ignored by certain colleagues who advance the strange concept that if (for example) a TSH value is within a reference interval then the patient is not hypothyroid irrespective of the level of the hormone within that interval. La Place and his contemporary Gauss – they of probability distribution fame – would be astonished to learn that Gaussian theory is now being applied to the distribution of thyroid hormone levels and then, erroneously, to the frequency of hypothyroidism; they would also be astonished to learn that there is no evidence correlating thyroid hormone values within the 95% reference intervals with the frequency and/or severity of hypothyroidism and that an unproven statistic has been transmuted into a gold standard of diagnosis wherein hypothyroidism cannot apparently exist if thyroid chemistry lies within 95% reference intervals. In the absence of secure correlative evidence, only one situation permits this approach, namely if a condition has been defined ab initio via laboratory findings which for example might apply to hypercholesterolaemia or even sub clinical hypothyroidism where the condition has been defined as having a raised TSH level above the 95% reference interval. The ‘coincidence’ of a 5% incidence of hypothyroidism – and indeed of other 5% disease frequencies similarly derived - requires critical re-examination.
It must be emphasised that the frequency responses recorded in Tables 1, 2 and 3 do not represent usual or current practice of the respondents; there are of course many interpretations from information presented outwith a contextual framework.
There is an urgent case to examine the efficacy of thyroid replacement in patients who have clinical evidence of hypothyroidism with clinical chemistry lying within 95% intervals.
I thank colleagues for their courteous and timely responses to this questionnaire.
FREQUENCY OF RESPONSES
TABLE 1. Eponymous responses
Thyroid replacement given when: Yes No No response
FT4 within 95% reference interval 107 (91%) 8 2
TSH above 95% reference interval
FT4 below 95% reference interval 85 (73%) 29 3
TSH within 95% reference interval
FT4 & TSH within 95% reference interval 10 (9%) 100 7
TABLE 2. Anonymous responses
Thyroid replacement given when Yes No No response
FT4 within 95% reference interval 54 (96%) 2 0
TSH above95% reference interval
FT4 below 95% reference interval 34(61%) 18 4
TSH within 95% reference interval
FT4 & TSH within 95% reference interval 10(18%) 45 1
TABLE 3 Total responses
Thyroid replacement given when Yes No No response
FT4 within 95% reference interval 161 (93%) 10 2
TSH above 95% referenceinterval
FT4 below 95% reference ionterval 119 (69%) 47 7
TSH within 95% reference interval
FT4 & TSH within 95% reference interval 20 (12%) 145 8
4. REBUTTAL
Document of Record concerning UK guidelines for thyroid function test
October 2005.
In October 2005 the Association for Clinical Biochemistry, British Thyroid Association, and British Thyroid Foundation kindly prepared the document named as above and invited comment and input through the medium of e-mail with assurance that due consideration would be given to any such advice.
Some eight weeks have elapsed and it is unclear how such input has been integrated ................................ segue sempre link sopra ( http://www.thyroidtears.co.uk/wecanmakeadifference.html )
Edited by uonderuoman - 12/3/2009, 15:41. -
uonderuoman.
User deleted
THYROID END MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS---IS THERE A MAJOR DIAGNOSTIC PROBLEM?
[Dr Betty Dowsett researched and wrote this article - May 2002 after receiving a letter from an ME patient who had suffered adrenal failure following over-treatment with thyroid hormones. Ed.]File Allegato
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Apocalypse23.
User deleted
http://endocrine-system.emedtv.com/levothy...-hair-loss.html
Sapevate che un eccesso di levotiroxina può provocare la perdita di capelli questo accade di solito quando si va verso un ipertiroidismo da un precedente ipotiroidismo.
Il rimedio è decerescere la dose, ma prima di farlo fate gli esami e consultate un medico di fiducia.......
.............Levotiroxina e perdita dei capelli: una panoramica.
la Levotiroxina sodica è un farmaco usato per trattare la tiroide (ipotiroidismo). la Perdita di capelli sembra essere un possibile (anche se non comune) effetto collaterale. Tuttavia, l'esatta percentuale di persone che sviluppano questo effetto non è stato riferito (come è comune con i farmaci, come levotiroxina). Di solito,la perdita di capelli è un effetto collaterale temporaneo che migliora entro i primi mesi di assunzione levotiroxina. Tuttavia, può anche essere un segno che si sta assumendo troppa levotiroxina.
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Apocalypse23.
User deleted
10 Facts About Fluoride You Need to Know:
Story at-a-glance
Water fluoridation has come under increasing scrutiny as health concerns, lack of efficacy in preventing tooth decay and ethical issues of administering chemicals via the water supply have surfaced
Michael Connett, an attorney with the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), summarizes 10 important facts about fluoride that everyone drinking fluoridated water should know
Facts uncovered reveal that fluoride impacts far more in your body than just your teeth and provides serious risks to infants, along with little or no benefit to your teeth, among others.
If fluoride is really the panacea for dental disease that it’s been portrayed as, then why is it that the United States is one of the only developed countries that fluoridates their citizens’ drinking water?
Hint: It’s not because the other countries aren’t aware of fluoride’s supposed “miracle” powers for your teeth … it’s because they fully realize that adding a known poison to your population’s water supply is probably not a good idea.
Even in North America, water fluoridation has come under increasing scrutiny; since 2010, more than 75 US and Canadian communities have voted to end water fluoridation, and the issue is heating up as more and more people begin to demand water that does not expose them to this highly toxic industrial waste product.
If you’re new to this issue, and even if you’re not, please take 20 minutes to watch Michael Connett, an attorney with the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), summarize 10 important facts about fluoride that everyone needs to know.1
10 Facts About Fluoride
1. Most Developed Countries Do Not Fluoridate Their Water
More people drink fluoridated water in the US alone than in the rest of the world combined. In Western Europe, for instance, 97 percent of the population drinks non-fluoridated water.
2. Fluoridated Countries Do Not Have Less Tooth Decay Than Non-Fluoridated Countries
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no discernible difference in tooth decay between developed countries that fluoridate their water and those that do not. The decline in tooth decay the US has experienced over the last 60 years, which is often attributed to fluoridated water, has likewise occurred in all developed countries (most of which do not fluoridate their water).
3. Fluoride Affects Many Tissues in Your Body Besides Your Teeth
Many assume that consuming fluoride is only an issue that involves your dental health. But according to a 500-page scientific review, fluoride is an endocrine disruptor that can affect your bones, brain, thyroid gland, pineal gland and even your blood sugar levels.2
There have been over 23 human studies and 100 animal studies linking fluoride to brain damage,3 including lower IQ in children, and studies have shown that fluoride toxicity can lead to a wide variety of health problems, including:
Increased lead absorption Disrupts synthesis of collagen Hyperactivity and/or lethargy Muscle disorders
Thyroid disease Arthritis Dementia Bone fractures
Lowered thyroid function Bone cancer (osteosarcoma) Inactivates 62 enzymes and inhibits more than 100 Inhibited formation of antibodies
Genetic damage and cell death Increased tumor and cancer rate Disrupted immune system Damaged sperm and increased infertility
4. Fluoridation is Not a “Natural” Process
Fluoride is naturally occurring in some areas, leading to high levels in certain water supplies “naturally.” Fluoridation advocates often use this to support its safety, however naturally occurring substances are not automatically safe (think of arsenic, for instance).
Further, the fluoride added to most water supplies is not the naturally occurring variety but rather fluorosilicic acid, which is captured in air pollution control devices of the phosphate fertilizer industry. As FAN reported:
“This captured fluoride acid is the most contaminated chemical added to public water supplies, and may impose additional risks to those presented by natural fluorides. These risks include a possible cancer hazard from the acid’s elevated arsenic content, and a possible neurotoxic hazard from the acid’s ability--under some conditions--to increase the erosion of lead from old pipes.”
5. 40% of American Teenagers Show Visible Signs of Fluoride Overexposure
About 40 percent of American teens have dental fluorosis,4 a condition that refers to changes in the appearance of tooth enamel that are caused by long-term ingestion of fluoride during the time teeth are forming. In some areas, fluorosis rates are as high as 70-80 percent, with some children suffering from advanced forms.
It’s likely this is a sign that children are receiving large amounts of fluoride from multiple sources, including not only drinking water but also fluoride toothpaste, processed beverages/foods, fluoride pesticides, tea, non-stick pans and some fluorinated drugs. So not only do we need to address the issue of water fluoridation, but how this exposure is magnified by other sources of fluoride that are now common.
It's also important to realize that dental fluorosis is NOT "just cosmetic." It can also be an indication that the rest of your body, such as your bones and internal organs, including your brain, have been overexposed to fluoride as well. In other words, if fluoride is having a visually detrimental effect on the surface of your teeth, you can be virtually guaranteed that it's also damaging other parts of your body, such as your bones.
6. For Infants, Fluoridated Water Provides No Benefits, Only Risks
Infants who consume formula made with fluoridated tap water may consume up to 1,200 micrograms of fluoride, or about 100 times more than the recommended amounts. Such “spikes” of fluoride exposure during infancy provide no known advantage to teeth, but they do have plenty of known harmful effects.
Babies given fluoridated water in their formula are not only more likely to develop dental fluorosis, but may also have reduced IQ scores. In fact, a Harvard University meta-analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that children who live in areas with highly fluoridated water have "significantly lower" IQ scores than those who live in low fluoride areas.5 A number of prominent dental researchers now advise that parents should not add fluoridated water to baby formula.
7. Fluoride Supplements Have Never Been Approved by the FDA
The fluoride supplements sometimes prescribed to those who are not drinking fluoridated water have not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of tooth decay. In fact, the fluoride supplements that the FDA has reviewed have been rejected.
“So with fluoridation, we are adding to the water a prescription-strength dose of a drug that has never been approved by the FDA,” FAN noted.
8. Fluoride is the Only Medicine Added to Public Water
Fluoride is added to drinking water to prevent a disease (tooth decay), and as such becomes a medicine by FDA definition. While proponents claim this is no different than adding vitamin D to milk, fluoride is not an essential nutrient. Many European nations have rejected fluoride for the very reason that delivering medication via the water supply would be inappropriate. Water fluoridation is a form of mass medication that denies you the right to informed consent.
9. Swallowing Fluoride Provides Little Benefit to Teeth
It is now widely recognized that fluoride’s only justifiable benefit comes from topical contact with teeth, which even the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged. Adding it to water and pills, which are swallowed, offers little, if any, benefit to your teeth.
10. Disadvantaged Communities are the Most Disadvantaged by Fluoride
Fluoride toxicity is exacerbated by conditions that occur much more frequently in low-income areas. This includes:
Nutrient deficiencies
Infant formula consumption
Kidney disease
Diabetes
African American and Mexican American children have significantly higher rates of dental fluorosis, and many low-income urban communities also have severe oral health crises, despite decades of water fluoridation. FAN continues:
“The simple fact is that poor populations need dental care, not fluoridation chemicals in their water. The millions of dollars spent each year promoting fluoridation would be better spent advocating for policies that provide real dental care: like allowing dental therapists to provide affordable care to populations with little access to dentists. In short, fluoridation provides good PR for dental trade associations, but bad medicine for those it’s supposedly meant to serve.”
Pro-Fluoride Group Rewards Minority and Immigrant Groups With Cash Payments for Support
Portland, Oregon, gets its water from the Bull Run watershed, a 102-square mile protected watershed that is so pristine and pure the city was even granted a waiver from having to build a water treatment plant. In May, Portland residents will vote for or against adding risky fluoridation chemicals to their unusually pristine water supply.
Not only will adding fluoride add to environmental chemical pollution and increase residents’ risks of dental fluorosis and other health concerns, it will also raise monthly water bills since adding these industrial waste chemicals costs millions of dollars.
As the vote on May 21, 2013 nears, the pro-fluoride campaign, Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland, has been increasing its “outreach” to gain the votes of minority groups. Not only did the organization recently gain another $325,000 in new contributions, giving them a large monetary lead over the fluoride opponents, Clean Water Portland, but they also reported some eyebrow-raising expenditures to groups working with minorities and immigrants. Among them:
$20,000 to the Center For Intercultural Organizing
$20,000 to the Native American Youth and Family Center
$20,000 to the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon
$20,000 to the Latino Network
$20,000 to the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization
$19,100 to the Urban League
That’s nearly $100,000 “donated” to essentially buy votes from the low-income communities that are among those at risk of being most harmed by water fluoridation. As WW reported:6
“ … Healthy Kids has aggressively sought the support of such organizations. That's not unusual. What is somewhat uncommon is rewarding that support with cash payments, which the campaign characterized in its filings as 'grant[s] for outreach services.' Campaigns typically spend their money on advertising, consultants, polling, rent and other direct expenses, not making grants to other groups. Evyn Mitchell, the campaign manager for Healthy Kids, says the grants to minority and immigrant groups are 'a new and different approach.'”
Call to Action as Portland Readies to Vote on Water Fluoridation
Portland rejected water fluoridation in 1956, 1962, and 1980. But after more than a year of secretive planning, fluoride lobbyists convinced the Portland city council to add this toxic waste for their public's consumption. Luckily, the citizens of Portland stood together by gathering enough signatures to force the decision to a vote on May 21, 2013.
Hopefully, with your help in spreading the message, Portland will once again stop this measure. If you live in Portland and want to sign up as a volunteer or pledge to vote No on water fluoridation on the City of Portland ballot, please do so on the Clean Water Portland Pledge Page.
take a look at this video:
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THYROID TEARSlink |
