Bioenergetic Spectrum Forum, Blog & Updates

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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Infants & Fluoride: New Warning from Dentists

EWG: In a little-noticed but dramatic turnaround, the nation’s leading fluoride advocate, The
American Dental Association (ADA), issued an alert on Nov 9th urging parents to avoid
fluoridated water when reconstituting infant formula.

Dentists are worried that fluoride exposure at this age will permanently damage teeth, not protect them. A growing body of research also links fluoride to weakened bones, reduced thyroid
activity, and possibly bone cancer in boys.

The advice, however, has gone largely unheeded. Nursery Water, the nation’s leading fluoridated
water for babies, still markets its product nationwide at Wal-Mart and other major retailers.

Help Environmental Working Group stop this unsafe practice. More at http://www.ewg.org/newsletter/20061129-fluoride/

AND

Dental Association Says Fluoride in Water Mottles Babies' Teeth
http://healthy.net/scr/news.asp?Id=8794
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Ask Wal-Mart to Stop Selling Fluoride "Nursery Water" to Infants

On November 9th, 2006, the American Dental Association (ADA) issued an alert advising parents to avoid fluoridated water when reconstituting infant formula. ADA's advice, however, has been mostly ignored by the media.

Nursery Water, the nation's leading fluoridated water for babies, still markets its product nationwide at Wal-Mart and other major retailers. (Have you ever noticed the picture of the sweet, healthy baby on the label? If it was being peddled on the street corners by fast talking salesmen, gullible people would probably still buy it.)

Help us stop this unsafe practice by signing this online petition to Wal-Mart.

THE PETITION

Douglas J. Degn
Executive Vice President, Food, Consumables and Hardlines Merchandising
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

Dear Mr. Degn,

We are writing to bring to your attention a recent health advisory from the American Dental
Association (ADA) that raises serious health concerns about the safety of a product ‹ Nursery
Water ‹ currently being sold at Wal-Marts across the country, and to request that, in line with
this ADA advisory, Wal-Mart stop the sale of this product immediately.

Nursery Water is a form of fluoridated bottled water that is specifically marketed for babies.
The product's packaging advises parents to use Nursery Water to reconstitute infant formula and other infant foods. Recent scientific developments, however, have raised concerns about
the safety of fluoridated water for infants.

Citing a major 2006 review of fluoride safety by the National Academy of Sciences, the ADA advised parents and caregivers on November 9th of this year, to not give infants fluoridated water in their formula or food. According to the ADA, consumption of fluoridated water puts a baby at high risk for dental fluorosis (a defect of teeth that causes staining and sometimes corrosion of the enamel.) The ADA's statement followed an October 14th decision from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that bottled waters with added fluoride cannot claim to reduce the risk of cavities for infants.

This advice is all the more striking as the ADA is the nation's leading advocate of water fluoridation. We are concerned, nonetheless, that without further action on the part of retailers
and consumer organizations, the public will not be made sufficiently aware of this important
change in health recommendations and will continue to put their babies at risk by using
this product as currently directed on the label.

We understand that removing a product from your shelves is a significant action but in this case
it is clearly justified given that the nation's leading dental authority advises against the precise intended use of the product. We appreciate the leadership role that Wal-Mart has taken on a broad range of environmental and consumer health issues, and we look forward to your removal of this unsafe product from your stores.

Thank you for your time...
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PETITION ONLINE AT
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/walmart/

Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:38:51 -0800
From: safewater
Subject: Re: Nursery water - Digging a deeper hole

About a month ago I went onto http://www.nurserywater.com/home.html, Nursery Water's website and they referenced "Ask Dr. Sears" in their fluoride statement regarding their product, "Nursery for Infants." I went onto that website, and on http://www.askdrsears.com/html/t030900.asp, "fluoride" page one of the statements under "Using Fluoride Supplements Safely" is: Breastfed babies do not need additional supplies of fluoride. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that fluoride supplements not be given to infants
younger than six months of age because of the concern about fluorosis in this age group.

So how can the makers of Nursery Water, with any conscience, put fluoride in the water and market it to infants?! Even the AAP's "recommended supplementation chart" on that page concerns only infants and children 6 months of age and older, implying that infants younger than that should receive no fluoride. To me, this directly contradicts Larry Yost's statement below,
"Fluoride, in a concentration of 0.7 parts per million (ppm), is the minimum level of fluoride
needed in water without additional fluoride supplementation." It's certainly not the level
needed for infants under 6 months!

I wrote Nursery Water and asked them about the AAP's recommendation that infants not receive fluoride and my concerns about the fluoride in Nursery Water for Infants and never got a
response. I don't see how they can continue to logically defend their product, although based on
the response (to be published) they continue to do so.

Perhaps a letter from a lawyer pointing out some of the inherent safety issues with their product might get their attention.

Linda Joy (Washington)

Please see basic info on fluoride dangers at http://poison.bioenergeticspectrum.com/fluoride.html

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