Fascinating Comments
Regarding Fluoridation
"I am now officially
opposed to adding fluoride to drinking water,"
says Dr. Hardy Limeback, B.Sc., Ph.D., in Biochemistry,
D.D.S., head of the Department of Preventive Dentistry
or the University of Toronto, and president of the
Canadian Association for Dental Research.
Subject: TOP
FLUORIDE EXPERT APOLOGIZES FOR PUSHING POISON
Prominent
researcher apologizes for pushing fluoride (1999 article,
updated in 2006)
by Barry Forbes
The Tribune,
Mesa, AZ
Dr. Limeback is
Canada's leading fluoride authority and, until recently, the
country's primary promoter of the controversial additive. In
1999, he announced a dramatic change of heart. "Children
under three should never use fluoridated toothpaste," he
counseled. "Or drink fluoridated water. And baby formula
must never be made up using Toronto tap water. Never."
What caused such
a powerful paradigm shift?
"It's been
building up for a couple of years," Limeback told me. "The
crowning blow was the realization that we have been dumping
contaminated fluoride into water reservoirs for half a
century. The vast majority of all fluoride additives come
from Tampa area smokestack scrubbers. The additives are a
toxic byproduct of the super-phosphate fertilizer industry.
"Tragically," he
continued, "that means we're not just dumping toxic fluoride
into our drinking water. We're also exposing innocent,
unsuspecting people to deadly elements of lead, arsenic and
radium, all of them carcinogenic. Because of the cumulative
properties of toxins, the detrimental effects on human
health are catastrophic."
A University of
Toronto study confirmed Dr. Limeback's worst fears.
"Residents of cities that fluoridate have double the
fluoride in their hip bones vis-a-vis the balance of the
population. We discovered that fluoride is actually altering
the basic architecture of human bones."
Skeletal
fluorosis is a debilitating condition that occurs when
fluoride accumulates in bones, making them extremely weak
and brittle. The earliest symptoms are mottled and brittle
teeth, Dr. Limeback told me. "In Canada we spend more money
treating dental fluorosis than we do treating cavities. That
includes my own practice."
One of the most
obvious living experiments, Dr. Limeback believes, is a
proof-positive comparison between any two Canadian cities.
"Here in Toronto we've been fluoridating since 1963. Yet
Vancouver - which has never fluoridated - has a cavity rate
lower than Toronto's." He pointed out that cavity rates are
low all across the industrialized world including Europe,
which is 98% fluoride free. Low because of improved
standards of living, less refined sugar, regular dental
checkups, flossing and frequent brushing. Now less than two
cavities per child Canada-wide, he said.
"I don't get it,
Doc. The Centers for Disease Control once ran a puff piece
all across America saying the stuff was better than sliced
bread. What's the story?"
"Unfortunately,"
he replied, "CDC is basing its position on data that is 50
years old, and questionable at best. Absolutely no one has
done research on fluorosilicates, which is the junk they're
dumping into the drinking water. On the other hand," he
added, "the evidence against systemic fluoride intake
continues to pour in."
"But Doc, the
dentists?"
"I have
absolutely no training in toxicity," he stated firmly. "Your
well-intentioned dentist is simply following 50 years of
misinformation from public health and the dental
association. Me, too. Unfortunately, we were wrong."
Dr. Limeback
addressed his faculty and students. In a poignant, memorable
meeting, he apologized to those gathered before him.
"Speaking as the head of preventive dentistry, I told them
that I had unintentionally mislead my colleagues and
students. For many years, I refused to study the toxicology
information that is readily available to anyone. Poisoning
our children was the furthest thing from my mind.
"The truth," he
confessed to me, "was a bitter pill to swallow. But swallow
it I did."
The paradigm
shift has yet to dawn in the US. After half a century of
delusion, the CDC, American Dental Association and Public
Health stubbornly and skillfully continue to manipulate
public opinion in favor of fluoridation.
Meantime, study
after study is delivering the death knell of the deadly
toxin. Sure, fluoridation will be around for a long time
yet, but ultimately its supporters need to ready the life
rafts. The poisonous waters of doubt and confusion are bound
to get choppier.
"Are lawsuits
inevitable?" I asked the good doctor.
"Remember
tobacco," was his succinct reply.
Welcome, Dr.
Hardy Limeback, to the far side of the fluoride equation.
It's lonely over here, but in our society loneliness and
truth frequently travel hand in hand. Thank you for the
undeniable courage of your convictions.