Open Parachute

New fluoride debate falters

Ken Perrott • Oct 26, 2017

• debate,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Fluoride Action Network,
• Health and Medicine,
• Science

What is it with these anti-fluoride campaigners – and particularly their leaders? They make a song and dance about having “science on their side.” They will heavily promote the latest research and papers if they can argue that they confirm their bias. And they will email politicians or make submissions to local bodies making scientific claims – often with citations and long lists of references. Read More

Flaw and porkie in anti-fluoride report claiming a flaw in Canadian study

Ken Perrott • Oct 19, 2017

• Data,
• decay,
• defs,
• deft,
• dental,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• longitudinal,
• Science,
• Science and Society

 Anti-fluoride campaigners have launched another attack on a Canadian fluoridation cessation study. They claim it is flawed – but there is a huge flaw in their own critique. Anti-fluoride group, Fluoride Action Network, ironically stamps their own critique of the Calgary fluoridation cessation study as “debunked.” I discussed their original attack in February last year (see Anti-fluoridationist’s flawed attacks on … Read More

Do we need a new fluoride debate?

Ken Perrott • Oct 12, 2017

• fluoridation,
• fluoridation debate,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• toxicity

I think we do. Something like the good faith scientific exchange I had with Paul Connett four years ago (see Connett & Perrott, 2014 – The Fluoride Debate). After all, there have been a number of important scientific reports since then. They may have been thrashed out (and thrash is sometimes the operative word) in one of the “anti-fluoride” or … Read More

September ’17 – NZ blogs sitemeter ranking

Ken Perrott • Oct 01, 2017

• blog,
• sitemeter

 Here are the rankings of New Zealand blogs with publicly available statistics for September 2017. Please note: Sitemeter is no longer working so the total number of NZ blogs in this list has been drastically reduced. I recommend anyone with Sitemeter consider transferring to one of the other meters. See  NZ Blog Rankings … Read More

Endemic fluorosis and its health effects

Ken Perrott • Sep 28, 2017

• fluoride,
• fluorosis,
• IQ,
• publishing,
• research

The public debate in New Zealand might convince the casual reader that all the science related to fluoride revolves around tooth decay and IQ. But that is certainly not the case on a world scale. The World Health Organisation gives guidelines for the concentration of fluoride in drinking water recommending it should be in the range 0.5 – 1.5 mg/L. OK, … Read More

Maternal urinary fluoride/IQ study – an update

Ken Perrott • Sep 24, 2017

• cognitive development,
• data manipulation,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• Science,
• Science and Society

 The maternal urinary fluoride/IQ study  (Bashash et al., 2017) continues to get attention – but mainly from anti-fluoride organisations. The scientific community will evaluate the published report after giving it due consideration and there have already been criticisms. But anti-fluoride campaigners consider it the best thing since sliced bread. The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) describes it as … Read More

Fluoride, pregnancy and the IQ of offspring

Ken Perrott • Sep 22, 2017

• causation,
• fluoride,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• pregnancy,
• Science and Society

What’s the story about this new IQ-fluoride study? The one that claims fluoride intake by pregnant women could endanger their children’s IQ? Whatever the truth, it has certainly got the anti-fluoride activists going. Mary O’Brien Byrne, leader of the local anti-fluoride group is even suggesting people check if their mothers lived in fluoridated areas. And they are busy promoting the newspaper articles … Read More

Facts about fluorosis – not a worry in New Zealand

Ken Perrott • Sep 20, 2017

• Health and Medicine,
• Science,
• Science and Society

A recent issue of the Fluoride Exposed Newsletter gives us the facts about dental fluorosis – a subject very often misrepresented by opponents of community water fluoridation. Ever notice how words ending with “-osis” sound a bit scary?  That’s because “-osis” is a suffix (from the Greek) commonly used to describe disorders or abnormal states. Tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis…no fun. Those … Read More

We need more post-publication peer review

Ken Perrott • Sep 18, 2017

• collaboration,
• journals,
• peer review,
• post-publication,
• publishing,
• Science,
• Science and Society

We often tout peer review as the reason for accepting the veracity of published scientific studies? But how good is it really? Does it ever match the ideal picture people have of it? And what about peer review before and after publication – are we neglecting these important stages? Pre-publication peer review Here I mean the collective process of evaluating … Read More

Cassini plunges into Saturn tonight – a grand finale

Ken Perrott • Sep 15, 2017

• cassini,
• NASA,
• Saturn,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• space

After two decades in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is nearing the end of its remarkable journey of exploration. Having expended almost every bit of the rocket propellant it carried to Saturn, operators are deliberately plunging Cassini into the planet to ensure Saturn’s moons will remain pristine for future exploration. Watch live coverage of Cassini’s end of mission on … Read More