Gov't Colluding With Dentists' Union to Protect Fluoridation?

The following are excerpts from the American Dental Association's 1979 Fluoridation "White Paper" concerning strategy for implementing and protecting water fluoridation - something that's still happening today. (Provided by Maureen Jones to the Fluoride Action Network) Legislators may believe government bureaucrats are acting independently but it's clear that the ADA is behind fluoridation schemes at every level of government.

Excerpts begin here: (My comments are in red)

     The development of a national fluoridation promotion program will require constant two-way communication among the primary parent agencies involved – – the American Dental Association, the Public Health Service and State Health Departments – – so that each will be informed of what is being done and needs to be done.  Consequently, there must be routine, internal communication arrangements within the agencies themselves as well as between the agencies, i.e., to and from the National Advisory Committee on Fluoridation (NACF), state dental societies, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the National Institute for Dental Research (NIDR), state dental directors and other appropriate groups or individuals. Meeting this need will be expedited by the appointment of a knowledgeable coordinator to help each agency follow through on collecting and circulating appropriate information and initiating action whenever indicated.  This interagency information activity will need to be augmented by the establishment of a fluoridation information clearinghouse, possibly with a toll-free telephone number that will serve as a centralized source for information on all aspects of fluorides and fluoridation.

Freedom of information obtained documents reveals the ADA, a private dentists' union, is still conniving with government agencies to protect fluoridation. See:: http://fluoridedangers.blogspot.com/2014/09/govt-strategizes-with-private-groups-to.html
More about ADA's possible collusion with government officials is described here: http://fluoridealert.org/wp-content/uploads/stockin.fan-conference.sept2014.pdf

FOIA'd documents upon which the above powerpoint is based are here:http://www.nidellaw.com/fluoride-foia-revealing/

A major purpose of the gathering of information should be the identification of communities where the timing for political action is favorable as well as unfavorable and where the opponents of fluoridation are considering the initiation of referendums.  Experience has shown that unsuccessful campaigns consume extensive personnel effort, and are expensive and bring on postponement of renewed positive action for at least five years.

Fluoridtionists created a Rapid Response Team to comment about online fluoridation media articles as evidenced by FOIA'd emails of Erin C. Knoerl Community Water Fluoridation Program Manager New York State Department of Health (dated 2015)

Within the ADA, provision has already been made for the addition of a full-time professional person to the staff of the council on dental health and health planning to coordinate the association’s fluoridation program activities.  Among his or her extensive responsibilities will be the provision of assistance to dental societies and other organizations involved in fluoridation campaigns, including personal consultation in the field; recommendations for areas to be researched – – scientific and legal; development and distribution of printed and audiovisual information materials for distribution to the professional and the public; recommending appropriate lobbying for essential funding and staffing by HEW for implementing the administration’s expressed assurance of support for fluoridation; exploring application of the techniques developed by the public education program (PEP) of the American Dental Association for the training of spokesmen; establishment of a clearinghouse of information on fluoridation, possibly with a toll-free telephone number, and so on.

Jane McGinley occupies that job today and provides periodic fluoridation  updates to interested parties (See:  http://www.njapd.org/october-fluoridation-status-update-2016.pdf )

It may be that the office of the ADA coordinator could best serve as the central clearinghouse of information.  For example, state dental societies and state dental directors should alert each other to any developments within their states to promote fluoridation of a community water supply or to discontinue a program; to upcoming anniversaries of programs and studies showing results; to any activity on the part of opponents of fluoridation (including newspaper columnists), and so on.  To monitor such developments, the constituent and component dental societies should each have a fluoridation committee in order to provide for automatic reporting from the community to the state level.  The office of the ADA coordinator should be advised immediately of any development and it should circulate any significant information to the NACF and the PHS.  Those agencies, in turn, should keep the ADA office informed, particularly about any developments in the legislative, political or scientific area.  Reporting can be via telephone or by the forwarding of newspaper clippings, copies of letters, memos, bulletins, articles in dental journals, papers presented at meetings and various other information materials.  In other words, lengthy correspondence or documents need not be prepared; the important factor is promptness.

A communications network, as outlined, will also serve for the expeditious transmission of information from the national to the local level.

Other available channels of information that should be utilized are the columns of ADA publications.  The editor should be requested to increase fluoridation coverage in the ADA News and the Journal of the American Dental Association.

Professional education:  Development of the program must begin with re-education and stimulation of the individual dentist both in the community and in the dental school, whose active participation is essential to the success of any fluoridation program.  Individual dentists must be convinced that they need not be familiar with scientific reports of laboratory and field investigations on fluoridation to be effective participants in the promotion program and that nonparticipation is overt neglect of professional responsibility.  Initiation of this part of the promotional effort should include the preparation of a short fact sheet for wide distribution.  Important among the facts listed, for example, should be the assurance that professional colleagues, qualified to review and assess the validity of scientific data have and will continue to maintain information on safety, effectiveness and cost of this preventive procedure for immediate response and distribution.

The staff of the American Dental Association offers the greatest potential moving force for education and stimulation of the practicing dentist on a continuing basis.  Through their routine communication with key dental leaders at the state and local levels in connection with the conduct of their respective programs and assignments – – correspondence, travel, planning of meetings and conferences, participation in dental meetings, and so on – – ADA personnel are in a unique position to promote fluoridation with little effort and at no additional expense.  Thus, a first step for the ADA coordinator should be the arrangement of a meeting of ADA department heads to alert them to (1) the renewed effort of the Association in concert with the Public Health Service and other appropriate government agencies and public health officials to assist communities in achieving fluoridation of their public water supplies and (2) the need for their cooperation if the profession is to respond successfully to one of the most exciting challenges of the century in the field of public health:  reversing the increasing triumph of falsehood over truth, of hucksters over scientists and of dental disease over dental health.  The meeting should be carefully structured to present a moving summary of what has happened, what needs to be done, why, and what is planned.  The circulation of a memo will not accomplish the objective of making the staff concerned.  Open, even emotion, discussion is needed.

The meeting should be followed by a communiqué to the constituent and component dental societies, allied and specialty groups and dental schools to alert them to the critical need for a concerted promotion effort, outlining their respective roles and seeking their support.  Information copies should be sent to the Deputy Surgeon General; Public Health Service; the Center for Disease Control; the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Center for Health Statistics; the National Institute for Dental Research; state dental directors and any other appropriate agencies and individuals with a covering letter soliciting their cooperation and recommendations.  Copies of the foregoing, with an appropriate covering letter soliciting their support in their respective areas, should be sent also to the Association officers, trustees, council members and department heads.  Copies of all such mailings should be sent routinely to the members of the National Advisory Committee on Fluoridation with the understanding that they should review and comment.

The ADA coordinator should also cooperate with the American Association of Dental Schools in the development and provision of appropriate background materials on fluoridation for continuing education courses.  In addition, the coordinator should encourage dental societies and study clubs to include fluoridation in their programs and should furnish appropriate background materials; should encourage dental schools to expand education of dental students and auxiliaries regarding the metabolism and physiological effects of fluorides and fluoridation; should seek the cooperation of the council on national board examinations to include questions regarding the role of fluorides and the benefits of fluoridation on national board examinations and should stimulate interest in knowledge of fluoridation among physicians, nurses and other health professionals and auxiliaries.  The coordinator should also explore the possibility of an awards program to provide funds for student loans to dental schools that do the most to implement community fluoridation programs each year.

Association support:  With regard to support from the Association, the 1977 House of Delegates reaffirmed its commitment to actively promote fluoridation and directed the Council on Dental Health and Health Planning to proceed with the development of an aggressive fluoridation promotion program (Trans, 1977:904).  A National Advisory Committee on Fluoridation has already been appointed as proposed in the initiatives resulting from the 1977 Workshop on Fluoridation (Trans. 1977:319).

While the federal government, at the highest levels, has expressed strong support for community fluoridation, a recent action of the Environmental Protection Agency is most disturbing.  Its new regulations regarding standards for drinking water classify all constituents that may affect health, including fluoride, as contaminants.  Since this word connotes danger, the EPA regulations will probably be cited in future arguments against fluoridation.  The PHS and the ADA Washington office should cooperate in an effort to have the language amended.

 The entire lengthy fluoridation strategy "White Paper" can be read here: http://fluoridealert.org/content/1979-ada-white-paper/

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