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Friday, 13 November 2009 05:56 |
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The heath risk to babies fed baby formula made with fluoridated water, especially infants up to 12 months old, has been confirmed in the October Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).
The research team concludes, "Most infants from birth to age 12 months who consume predominantly powdered [or] liquid concentrate formula are likely to exceed the upper tolerable limit [of fluoride] if the formula is reconstituted with fluoridated water (0.7 - 1.2 ppm).”
The warning was first issued in 2006, having been identified in New Zealand in the 1990s - the NZ/Australian standard for infant formula background report states that using fluoridated water to make it up poses a risk of dental fluorosis.The NZ Ministry of Health continues to deny there is a risk.
In 2000, researcher A K Mascarenhas, evaluating only well-conducted studies from the 1980s through the 1990s, concluded in Pediatric Dentistry that infant formula was a major risk factor for dental fluorosis.
A review of human studies published in the JADA (July 2009) concluded “The consumption of infant formula is, on average, associated with an increased risk of developing at least some detectable level of enamel fluorosis.” Baby formula made with fluoridated water contains 250 times the level found in breast milk, regardless of the mother’s exposure to fluoride. One approach would be to strive for 'biological normality' in formula - for fluoride levels observed in breast milk," wrote Hujoel et al in JADA (July 2009). This would mean not using fluoridated water. “How long will the NZ Ministry of Health, Dental Association, and Medical Association, maintain their policy of poisoning the most vulnerable in our society with fluoride because they cannot admit their belief in water fluoridation has been proven wrong by the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence?” asks Mark Atkin, Fluoride Action Network (NZ) co-representative on the Coalition for Fluoridation- free NZ, adding “how long before law suits are lodged against them for harm caused by fluoridation, when they knew fluoridation was dangerous?” |