|
Copy List
Belgium First Country in
World to ...
... PROHIBIT FLUORIDE SUPPLEMENTS
July 2002
Belgium Minister of Health says:
"Away with that stuff, we can miss them like toothache." from Dr.
Moolenburgh.
Fluoride tablets, fluoride drops, fluoride
chewing gum, which have, for ten years been promoted as the crown jewels of
dentistry, will now be taken out of the market, because they are poisonous
and hold a great risk for physical and often also psychological health.
This has been decided by the Federal
Minister of Health, Magda Aelvoet. As soon as the Royal Decision appears in
the State Magazine, the prohibition is official. Thus Belgium is the first
country in the world that forbids fluoride supplements.
A UNICEF Report in 1999 complained that
some Governments did not sufficiently realise how damaging fluoride is
- especially for children. Children have more tender organisms than adults
and are less able to eliminate fluoride.
In the same year Humo wrote a fluoride
dossier about the dangers of this stuff (Humo nr 17/3059,200 April 1999).
There was a lot of reaction from this article, especially from dentists who,
undoubtedly in good faith, took over the arguments of the fluoride lobby.
The benefit of fluoride has for a long time
been doubted throughout the scientific world. At least twelve Nobel Prize
winners (Chemistry and Medicine) have warned of the health risks.
To have children swallow fluoride is not
only completely worthless against tooth decay, it is downright dangerous.
Decalcification of teeth and bones as a result of fluoride intake even has a
name: "fluorosis".
Fluoride is very reactive and quickly
penetrates deeply into the bones and cells, where it accumulates. Yes, the
tooth enamel becomes slightly harder, but the tooth itself becomes more
brittle. From quite a few investigations it has become clear that fluoride
can cause arthritis, skeletal aberrations, osteoporosis and even
bone-cancer. Neither does the brain escape. Fluoride has a negative
influence on the nervous system and immune system and in children it can
lead to (lasting) tiredness, a lower I.Q., learning disabilities, lethargy
and depression.
DUMP AND BE RICH
Sodium fluoride, which is contained in food
supplements, is 80 times more poisonous than the natural calcium fluoride.
Of importance is the fact that it is a
poisonous waste product of the aluminium and fertiliser industry.
Multinationals like EXXON, US Steel and Alcoa thus get rid of their toxic
waste products in a completely legal but immoral way and get rich into the
bargain.
In the USA, the fluoride lobby is
especially determined to put even more fluoride in the water supplies. Who
has been appointed as a Minister of Finance by President Bush? Paul O'Neil,
the President of ALCOA, the greatest aluminium producer in the world and the
original "fluoride in water, use Alcoa fluoride with confidence".
The dental industry will follow, with an
eagle eye, the effects of the decision of the Belgian Green Minister.
"Children have more
tender organisms than adults and are less able to eliminate fluoride"
UNICEF Report
Minister Aelvoet has proposed to the
European Commission that there be a prohibition on all fluoride supplements
in the European Union. However, the Commission apparently found it to be a
bit premature: the prohibition was put off indefinitely until the question
is "harmonised".
Belgium stands alone for the time being,
but experience shows that when one member of the Union prohibits a dangerous
compound, the rest of Europe follows reluctantly.
Nevertheless, industry, even after the
prohibition, can continue getting rid of its toxic waste product: fluoride
toothpaste, mouthwashes, flossing threat and even toothpicks do not fall
under the prohibition. Dentists are still allowed to put fluoride on
children's teeth, however risky that may be.
The American researcher Phyllis Mullenix
has shown the same treatment in laboratory animals increased the blood
concentration of fluoride so much, that the animals showed behaviour
disturbances within an hour.
There also exists all sorts of dental
materials with fluorides that leak permanently into the mouth. Dentists use
these materials mainly to fill holes in children's teeth - a scary medical
procedure when one knows that fluoride is only slightly less poisonous than
arsenic.
TOBACCO AND FLUORIDE
Though the prohibition on fluoride
supplements is only a first step, it is a courageous decision and Aelvoet
can expect a lot of headwind in the coming days, both at home and from
abroad.
Magda Aelvoet said: "In these sorts of
matters a harmonisation within the European Union of course is to be wished
for, but I cannot always wait until the European Union is ready."
"The High Court for Health has given me
advice to prohibit food supplements with fluoride and I cannot but be
contented about the scientific arguments supporting that advice. We will
tell this decision officially to the other European members. Hopefully they
will soon follow suit. For many years I have been worried about the signals
from the scientific world warning against the use of fluorides. I have never
given fluoride to my children."
The following is an extract from an
interview with Minister Aelvoet and HOMO
HUMO: "In the meantime a majority of
Flemish children have been swallowing fluoride on a daily basis - on medical
advice. There are few children who do not know the 'white tablets'."
AELVOET.. "When the use has become a habit
and has ,a so-called scientific foundation and when there are industrial
interests involved, it often demands much time, many arguments and much
dedication to turn the tide. The tobacco industry in former times also used
scientific arguments, didn't they, to say that smoking did no harm?"
"The High Court for
Health has given me advice to prohibit food supplements with fluoride and I
cannot but be contented about the scientific arguments supporting that
advice."
Magda Aelvoet, Federal
Minister of Health.
HUMO: "To let children swallow fluoride is
a medical blunder of the first order. It is completely useless against tooth
decay."
AELVOET. "The idea that fluoride would
prevent tooth decay has been refuted in the meantime, yes."
HUMO: "One cannot reproach the fluoride
industry for not being creative: the market is swamped by fluoride gels,
mouthwash, floss thread, tooth whiteners, even fluoridated toothpicks."
AELVOET.- (surprised) "What? Toothpicks
with fluoride? Does that really exist? Within the limited scope offered to
me in Europe nevertheless I will try to put an end to all this sort of
fluoride applications. We will also make contact with other European members
to broaden our base."
HUMO: "Professor Dirk Vanden Berghe,
microbiologist at the University of Antwerp, has been a fierce opponent
against fluoride for many years. He says: "And what is the Minister going to
do about fluoridated toothpaste? Children often swallow 30-40% of their
toothpaste and it enters their bodies with the saliva. This way they get an
overdose of fluoride."
AELVOET.- "My administration shall ask the
producers to make fluoride-free toothpaste, but we cannot force them to do
so on our own. The problem is that toothpaste does not tall under the law on
food, but under the law on cosmetics and that has been ruled on a European
level. There is a lot of work still to do."
HUMO: "There is more. There exist all sorts
of dental filling material which permanently leaks fluoride into the body.
It is used mainly to prevent tooth decay in children's teeth. How much a
child ingests through the saliva cannot be evaluated."
FRANS GOSSELINKS (Adviser to the Government
and Pharmacist): "The prohibition on fluoride supplements is a lever for
what will follow. The model: 'fluoride helps against tooth decay" is still
in the heads of nearly all dentists. We must begin to destroy that model.
They have now received the first signal. We have only recently heard about
the existence of these filling materials. I am convinced that many of my
colleagues in the other member States do not yet know this. "
AELVOET: "Then it is high time that we also
get a grip on that too. 1 will take it up on a European level. We have to
turn the tide. It will take some time but we are going to send fluoride back
from where it came from."
MENTAL POISON
HUMO: "We again cite Professor Vanden
Berghe: "Now we are 'informed' fluoride supplements will be thrown out, the
great responsibility lays with the doctors themselves. We are saddled with
lots of new chronic diseases which increase all the time. There are enough
studies showing a direct connection with the use of fluoride. The dentists
must warn the parents of their children that it is not prudent to use
fluoride, in whatever way. One child may quickly show symptoms of fluoride
poisoning, which in other children the evil results will manifest themselves
at a later age."
AELVOET.- "It is no more than a logical act
that we inform medical men about the risks of fluoride."
HUMO: "You are prohibiting the use of
fluoride supplements, but the pharmacists are allowed to sell them as long
as there are supplies available. Where is the logic in that?"
AELVOET.- This interim period is not meant
to soothe the pharmacists, do not think that. Also on other departments
under my competence like the environment and agriculture we work like that.
When we take a novel measure like fluoride, people need time to adapt.
Everyone as a matter of fact thinks that fluoride can do no harm. Fluoride
is a sneaky poison; it has also worked its way into the mind."
GOSSELINCKS: "As soon as the news is
published and the prohibition is official, the General Pharmaceutical
Association will give us a call with the question: 'What is all this about?'
They will be frightened at first, but in these cases the pharmacists
themselves often will take the initiative to send the stuff back tearing
that they will be saddled with it."
HUMO: "Professor Vanden Berghe also warns
against the new toothpaste containing strontium."
AELVOET: "All the time it is the same
thing: they want to sell us things we can avoid like uh ... toothache"
(laughs)
HUMO: "Do you think it will succeed in
Europe?"
AELVOET. "The European governments have a
different structure than in former times. Let us be honest: when it is a
question of allowing health to prevail aver economy, I am afraid that we no
longer have a great majority. It will not be easy but that is not to say
that we must not get a move on."
GOSSELINCKS: "We must continue until we are
fluoride free. "
AELVOET.. "Exactly. And here I want to give
HUMO a compliment: with your "Fluoridossier" you have played an important
role a couple of years ago."
Chris Vermeire and Peter Cremers. HUMO
30 July 2002.
Copy List
|
