Tagged: fluoridation

Preempting the annual misrepresentation of NZ dental health data by anti-fluoride activists - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Jan 23, 2019 •

• community water fluoridation,
• dental health,
• fluoridation,
• Ministry of Health,
• oral health

The latest NZ school dental service data again confirms that community water fluoridation is effective. The data show benefits of up to about 30% improvement in oral health. But, anti-fluoride activists will, once again, reject this evidence and instead cherry-pick the data to support their claims. The NZ Ministry of Health (MoH) has posted the latest summary of child dental … Read More

Fluoridation: Another study shows stopping fluoridation bad for child tooth decay - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Dec 20, 2018 •

• community water fluoridation,
• fluoridation,
• tooth caries,
• tooth decay

  Stopping community water fluoridation in Alaska’s capital city, Juneau, caused an increase in child tooth decay In the last week, Windsor in Ontario, Canada, voted to reinstate community water fluoridation (CWF) 5 years after it was stopped because of opposition. This time the City Council was swayed by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s Oral Health 2018 Report which found the percentage … Read More

An open letter to Rethink Fluoride - BioBlog

Alison Campbell • Sep 12, 2018 •

• debate,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Social media

Dear Rethink Fluoride, Since you’ve blocked me from commenting on your page (and on this post, in particular), this seems the best way to respond to you. After all, at least some of you do follow Sciblogs. I have to say that preventing someone from commenting is particularly rich coming from a group who claim that they want to have … Read More

Anti-fluoridation activists buy scientific credibility using a predatory publisher - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • May 30, 2018 •

• community water fluoridation,
• fluoridation,
• predatory publishers

A group of well-known anti-fluoride activists have just published some new research. Well, this is what their social media publicity will tell us. In fact, this is not new research. It is simply the republication of a shonky paper from two years ago as a  chapter in a book produced by a predatory open access publisher. It is a clear example … Read More

Not just another rat study - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • May 09, 2018 •

• animal trials,
• community water fluoridation,
• fluoridation,
• Learning,
• Memory

A new high-quality study of the effect of fluoride on the memory and learning behaviour of rats has produced definitive results. Anti-fluoride campaigners had great hopes this study would bring an end to community water fluoridation (CWF) – but their hopes have been dashed. The study showed no effect of fluoride on the memory, learning and motor skills of rats thus reinforcing the consensus … Read More

Paul Connett’s misrepresentation of maternal F exposure study debunked - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Mar 06, 2018 •

• activists,
• anti-fluoride,
• birth weight,
• cognition,
• commercial,
• endemic fluorosis,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• forecasted values,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• maternal,
• Mexico,
• misinterpretation,
• New Zealand,
• Paul Connett,
• pregnancy,
• Science,
• Urine,
• water

Anti-fluoride campaigners are misrepresenting a recent Mexican study claiming its findings should cause governments around the world to abandon community water fluoridation (CWF). Their claims are unwarranted because the study has a high degree of uncertainty. Activists are misrepresenting the accuracy of the studies findings. Because Mexico has areas of endemic fluorosis the study itself is not relevant to CWF. Read More

Opinion: Anti-fluoride activist commits “Death by PowerPoint” - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Feb 28, 2018 •

• district health boards,
• Drinking water,
• fluoridation,
• Health and Medicine,
• parliament,
• PowerPoint,
• Presentation,
• Science,
• water

We have all sat through boring, and counterproductive, PowerPoint presentations. Boring because the presenter breaks all the rule relevant to the preparation of visual displays. And counterproductive because, in the end, the audience does not remember any of the information the presenter attempts to convey. David JP Phillips gives some relevant advice on PowerPoint preparation in the video … Read More

Anti-fluoridation campaigners often use statistical significance to confirm bias - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Dec 06, 2017 •

• bias,
• causation,
• correlation,
• Data,
• fluoridation,
• fluoride,
• Health,
• Health and Medicine,
• IQ,
• Science,
• Science and Society,
• statistics,
• water

Frankly, these days I just get turned off by media reports of studies showing statistically significant relationships as evidence for or against the latest health or other fads. I was pleased to read this Nature article – Five ways to fix statistics – recently as it mirrors my concern at the way statistical analysis is sometimes used to justify or confirm a bias and not … Read More

New fluoride debate falters - Open Parachute

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 - Open Parachute

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