Open Parachute

Water fluoridation – what to expect in the near future

Ken Perrott • Jan 21, 2017

• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• Horizon Scan,
• IQ,
• legislation,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• water

Community water fluoridation (CWF) will persist in science news for the foreseeable future – not for any valid scientific reason but because of reaction to political pressures against it. This is particularly so in New Zealand where our parliament will be discussing legislative changes to fluoridation decision-making this year. This is not to say that all the relevant news will be … Read More

Premature births a factor in cognitive deficits observed in areas of endemic fluorosis?

Ken Perrott • Jan 20, 2017

• cognitive,
• cognitive delay,
• community water fluoridation,
• developmental health,
• fluoride,
• fluorosis,
• Health and Medicine,
• pregnancy,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• water

Anti-fluoridation activists are soon likely to be promoting a new paper reporting a study which found a relationship between maternal (in utero) exposure to fluoride and cognitive development delay in infants. Could the increased incidence of premature births explain cognitive deficits observed in areas of endemic fluorosis? Image credit: New Kids-Center. Of course, they will be unlikely … Read More

More nails in the anti-fluoridation myths around IQ and hypothyroidism

Ken Perrott • Jan 16, 2017

• Canada,
• cognitive,
• community water fluoridation,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• hypothyroidsm,
• IQ,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• thyroid

A new Canadian study shows no relationship of cognitive deficits or diagnosis of hypothyroidism with fluoride in drinking water. This work is important because it counters the claims made by anti-fluoride campaigners. While the campaigners cite scientific studies to support their claims, those studies are usually very weak, or irrelevant because they involve areas of endemic fluorosis where drinking … Read More

Fluoridation: New scientific review of fluoride and oral health

Ken Perrott • Jan 11, 2017

• access,
• community water fluoridation,
• detal health,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• review,
• Science,
• teeth,
• WHO

Want to get up to date on  research about community water fluoridation (CWF) and the effects of fluoride in dental health in general? Have a read of this new review. It’s published in a special issue of Community Dental Health devoted to the WHO approach to the prevention of dental caries through the use of fluoride. And is also … Read More

Critical thinking, not censorship, is the solution to fake news

Ken Perrott • Jan 09, 2017

• critical thinking,
• fake news,
• media

All this talk about fake news brings to my mind a picture of people in glass houses frantically throwing stones. The fact is that many of those complaining about fake news, especially those dominating our mainstream media, are guilty of promoting fake news – and have done it for years. I can’t help thinking what really upsets them, is that … Read More

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Anti-fluoride IQ claims are false

Ken Perrott • Jan 06, 2017

• debunking,
• Evidence,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• Kasprak,
• peer review,
• Science,
• snopes

Anti-fluoridation campaigners’ claims that community water fluoridation reduces IQ are simply false. That is the conclusion of  Alex Kasprak – and he says why in his new Snopes.com article (see Fact Check -Fluor-IQ). Snopes.com tackles fluoridation claims. These days anti-fluoridation activists use this claim as their main argument – and they often cite scientific articles to back it up. Read More

December ’16 – NZ blogs sitemeter ranking

Ken Perrott • Jan 05, 2017

• blog rankings,
• blogging,
• blogs,
• nz,
• sitemeter

Here are the rankings of New Zealand blogs with publicly available statistics for December 2016. Image Credit: Happy New year Images There are about 300 blogs on the list, although I am weeding out those which are no longer active or have removed public access to sitemeters. (Let me know if I weed out yours by mistake or get your stats … Read More

Large Swedish study finds no effect of fluoride on IQ

Ken Perrott • Jan 05, 2017

• cognitive,
• community water fluoridation,
• dental health,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• Mental health,
• Science,
• Science and Society

A significant new Swedish study shows fluoride in drinking water, at the concentrations used for community water fluoridation, has no effect on IQ or other measures of cognitive ability. Fluoride levels in Swedish drinking water (mg/L). Variation between municipalities. Source: Aggeborn & Öhman (2016). Similarly, it has no effect on diagnosis or prescription of medicines for ADHD, depression, psychiatric … Read More

Fluoridation: New research confirms it is cost effective – yet again

Ken Perrott • Dec 13, 2016

• cost benefit,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• Science,
• Science and Society

A new study has found, once again, that community water fluoridation (CWF) saves more than it costs. Carrying on from the previous most comprehensive study in 2001 this new study is based on updated costs of CWF and the averted lifetime costs of dental treatment in the United States. It estimates savings from averted tooth decay in 2013  as a result … Read More

Water fluoridation gets political

Ken Perrott • Dec 08, 2016

• Science,
• Science and Society,
• Water fluoridation

The new community water fluoridation legislation is now on the way in the New Zealand parliament. The Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill was introduced on Tuesday and the parliamentary health committee has invited submissions. It’s worth watching the videos of the twelve speakers in the first reading. These give an idea of how the legislation will be received by the … Read More

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