What next? Fluoride killing polar bears?

When I was a teenager back in the sixties we had the start to what was eventually called "The Great Fluoride War!"

While the general consensus is that fluoride is good for you, there are still die hard stick-in-the-mud opponents who claim it ain't......period!

Most of these people are bible thumpin', right wing conservatives from across the border, but don't be fooled kids, we have our own nuts too!

Some of them are quite close to home!

Here is part of a story from today's London Free Press! (London,ON)

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By IAN GILLESPIE, The London Free Press.

When asked about the benefits of adding fluoride to our drinking water, London Coun. Denise Brown said, "If you do any research on the Internet, you'll find scientists believe there are health risks."

Yes, that's right.

And if you do more Internet "research," you'll also discover "experts" who argue that aliens hijacked the Voyager 2 spacecraft, Paul McCartney died in a 1966 car crash, Elvis Presley is alive and the Apollo moon landing was a hoax.

C'mon folks. Give your head a shake.

Despite nearly 50 years of rigorous, credible and overwhelming scientific research to the contrary, Londoners are being warned by the U.S.- based Fluoride Action Network (who've set up a March 2 public meeting) that fluoridated water not only doesn't help prevent tooth decay, but is responsible for causing an increase in hip fractures, arthritis, bone cancer, brain disorders and thyroid problems.

This is ignorant fear-mongering at its worst.

Let's start by pointing out that more then 90 national and international health organizations -- including Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the U.S. National Institute of Health and the World Health Organization -- have heartily endorsed the fluoridation of drinking water as a safe, effective and economical way to help prevent tooth decay, particularly among children.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control called fluoridation one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

The conclusions are clear. But please, don't take my word for it.

"We support community water fluoridation in the optimal dose because it is extremely useful and it reaches all populations, especially children of the working poor, the elderly and the disabled," says Dr. Lynn Tomkins, president of the Ontario Dental Association.

Not only have the benefits of fluoride been studied to death, but as Tomkins points out to me, we also know what happens when you remove it.

"(Officials in) Dorval, Que., took the fluoride out in 2003," she says. "And the rates of dental decay in pre-schoolers there have doubled. That's pretty alarming."

Why in the world, then, would we disregard the sober opinions of so many experts and put our faith in the delusions of cranks?

"These kinds of decisions should not be subject to emotional debates and opinion polls," says Tomkins. "You have to pay attention to your own experts."

It's hard for average people like you and me to counter the claims of evangelical-like groups like the Fluoride Action Network, who cherry-pick statistics, cite dubious studies and make deceptive straw-man arguments. And it's tempting, sometimes, to think there just might be some validity to their ecstatic claims.

That's particularly true in the Internet age, when it takes mere seconds to find similar people saying similar things.

But that's because the world is overflowing with paranoid people who, prompted by feelings of angry helplessness, take comfort in the delusion that our problems are caused by large, impersonal groups fronted by mindless bureaucrats who are out to get us.

"Ignorance is a lot easier and a lot more convincing than knowledge," warns UWO professor Tim Blackmore, who teaches media and information studies. "Knowledge takes time, it takes thinking and it takes figuring. Ignorance doesn't take any of those things. It just takes belief."

He's right. And we forget that at our peril.

Ian Gillespie is the Free Press city columnist.

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NOW, one more small thing in today's lesson kids..........., most of the people who are against fluoridation are also "CREATIONISTS!"

I don't know about you, but I can see how a person who believes one, would believe in the other too!