New challenges to European Commissioners over water fluoridation.

Medical professionals dismiss new EC Committee and its study on fluoridation as 'not fit for purpose', the EC Commissioner for Health is asked why MHRA is allowed to ignore Community law, and a demand is made for the practice to be referred to the European Court of Justice. Not a good day at the office, then?

European Commissioners and bureaucrats are coming under increasing pressure to revise their ambivalent position on water fluoridation. Caroline Lucas, MEP for Southwest England (including Southampton) has issued a formal complaint to Ms Androulla Vassillou, Commissioner for Health, that the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not fulfilled its responsibility to verify the correct classification of a product, hexafluorosilic acid, as a medicinal product. She is now demanding to know
What action will the European Commission take to enforce Directive 2001/83/EC, given the ECJ ruling and clear evidence that member state authorities such as the MHRA are not properly classifying hexafluorosilic acid?

Meanwhile, the EC's attempt to sooth growing concern from the scientific and medical communities is also running into trouble. For the past couple of months the Health and Consumer Protection Secretariat of the EC has been trying to set up a Committee to look into the safety of water fluoridation. But in trying to establish a working mandate for the study, the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) has been challenged over its competence and authority to carry out the study.

Dr Philip Michael, Vice President [Europe] of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, has written to SCHER charging that is "not fit for the purpose of risk assessing fluoridated drinking water."

Dr Michael writes: SCHER's field of competence does not extend to clinical and physiological assessment of pharmacologically active substances. . . . As doctors, we do not accept that the terms of reference for risk assessment of fluoridated drinking water given by the Commission to SCHER satisfy the essential clinical requirements for pharmacologically active substances. These are that they should be safe and effective after clinically conducted trials, and the quality and dissemination of information about these substances to citizens must be such as to enable them to make informed choices about their own treatment.

Now we have added weight to these objections by warning SCHER that its proposed mandate is improper. Doug has informed the Secretariat that neither national regulators nor Commissioners have authority to express 'opinions' on whether or not fluoridation needs to be subjected to medicinal regulation, and that, as Dr Michael has pointed out, SCHER is not an appropriate body to assess the risks of a medicinal intervention.Doug has emphasised that the legitimacy of the practice of water fluoridation must be established before any assessment of the safety of the chemicals involved can be carrried, even by an appropriately qualified Expert Committee.

He warns that if a practice is unlawful, then no review of its safety is necessary, and has called for the issue of the legitimacy of fluoridation to be determined at an expedited hearing of the European Court of Justice.

FLUORIDE IS HAZARDOUS WASTE AND HAS NO PLACE IN OUR DRINKING WATER

Fluoride is clearly a very dangerous toxic waste which should have no place in our drinking water, diet or our wider environment. Like it or not, this is fact. But what of those who promote this crap. Step forward Andy Burnham MP who launched this in Parliament in 2003 and who is now our Health Minister (sic) and of course the former Health Minister, Alan Johnson who is now our Home Secretary. Surely they should be removed from our environment and be disposed of safely. If anyone has suggestions for their safe disposal, I and thousands of others would be interested to hear of them. The suggestions received so far are 1. remove them for containment to the Back Benches, 2 Vote Green at the first available General Election, If your not already convinced of the dangers of fluoride, please watch the video below.


For up to date info on the fluoride campaign, visit the UK Councils Against Fluridation http://www.ukcaf.org/ the National Pure Water Association, http://www.npwa.org.uk/ or the Fluoride Action Network. http://www.fluoridealert.org/

FLUORIDE PETITION TO DOWNING STREET

Fluoride campaigners will tomorrow deliver a petition to the Government, calling for plans to add the chemical to Hampshire's water be scrapped.Around 30 activists will travel to Downing Street to hand over the signatures they have collected in opposition to the controversial scheme.The petition calls on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reverse South Central Strategic HealthAuthority's decision to approve plans to fluoridate tap water to nearly 200,000 Hampshire homes.Hampshire Against Fluoridation (HAF) has gathered more than 14,000 names on the document, which will be delivered to Number Ten tomorrow morning."We're calling on Gordon Brown to step in and reverse the decision. We don't want fluoride in the water fullstop, and want democracy to be reinstated," said HAF's Caroline Place."When he came to Southampton, he said that it was a decision for the people, and effectively now the people have decided. It's overwhelming amongst people we've asked that they don't want it." Romsey and Southampton North MP Sandra Gidley joined members of Hampshire Against Fluoridation in the city centre on Saturday for their final push to attract more signatures. Along with New Forest East MP Julian Lewis and Eastleigh representative Chris Huhne, she will also be with the activists tomorrow when they visit London.After handing over the petition, HAF members will then deliver a letter to the Department of Health, before meeting members of the All Parliamentary Group Against Fluoridation.With MPs, they will discuss the situation regarding fluoridation in other parts of the country and the next steps in their campaign to stop it being introduced in Hampshire.The scheme, unanimously approved by the SHA board in February, will affect two thirds of Southampton homes, as well as parts of Eastleigh, Totton, Netley and Rownhams.Fluoridation was proposed by city health chiefs as the best way to improve high levels of tooth decay among children.Around 5.5m UK residents already receive fluoridated water, and the practice is widely used in countries including the USA, Ireland and Australia.Opponents maintain there are worrying side effects, including mottled teeth, bone cancers and even lowered IQ in babies. They believe the process is unethical mass medication.

From Hampshire Against Fluoride

BAD NEWS THEN MORE BAD NEWS

Andy Burnham replaces Alan Johnson

Now we have all vented our fury at the greed of our MPs we should be grateful that we have disposed of so many of them. A pity that some good Councillors have suffered for no good reason of course but i suppose being in any way related to this nasty allegedly Labour government is good enough reason for most. And lets not forget that this was all made possible by Thatcherism and Reagonomics. The Big Bang in the City of London and deregulation made the Credit Crunch not just possible but probably inevitable. And as Thatcher froze MPs salaries she also freed up the expenses system for MPs; ( a pay rise in disguise as many MPs clearly seemed to think)

And as the end of the Thatcher and Major regimes, drew near, it was blindingly obvious that no one was going to re-elect the Tories for a very long time. So what did the Thatcherite Neocons do to get elected. I would suggest that they simply joined the Labour Party, gained the majority position, elected a new Thatcherite leader, Tony B Liar and the rest is history. Tony was not the Bambi they thought but rather Tonasaurus Rex whose gleaming teeth were soon sunk into the soft underbelly of the Welfare State. Single parents, the sick, the disabled, the elderly the unemployed and small brown people with oil were all sitting ducks.

As the end of days for New Labour draws nearer, Brown in desperate straights has retrenched and brought together his most loyal (at least for now) henchmen. Chief Fluoridista and Health Minister Alan Johnson is now elevated to Home Secretary. No, please don't laugh, its not funny, its actually all rather tragic and dangerous. Now he can lock us up for opposing fluoridation if he wishes. He already has more than enough laws to use against democracy and New Labour are always ready to pass some more at a moments notice.

But surely, Johnson, who appeared to believe that fluoride was actually safe or even helpful, has been replaced by a safe pair of hands in the Department of Health? Sadly no. Step forward Andy Burnham, Minister for Dirty Jobs and original Pusher of Fluoride for Blair in 2003 and since then, such popular and useless measures as ID Cards and DNA databases. Here I will pause till the sobbing dies down and sick bags have been handed out...... OK time's up!

Johnson and Burnham are probably the Ant and Dec of the Labour government, a pair of buffoons for sure but not as funny or clever. Even more horrifying is the distinct possibility that Johnson could be the next Prime Minister if Brown finally agrees to go and this may be sooner than we think. Brown may desperately wish to stay in the Job he preyed for so long but Events may yet get the better of him.

Labour is now the lowest in the polls that it has ever been and may yet fall lower. The Local Elections have just been disastrous for Brown with the Labour candidates being pushed into third and fourth place. And on this coming Sunday, the omens are not good for them as the results of the European elections are pretty sure to rubbish Labour yet again. Calls for Brown to go will probably increase and some more resignations and defections are probable.

Which ever Government assumes power after the next election which could be as soon as this October and certainly no later than next year. They will not have any money to throw around. Rail spending has been cut and eduction and health will also soon come under pressure. Its possible that Fluoride will be dumped as an unnecessary and expensive waste of time. Unfortunately we cannot depend on this so the best thing we can do is step up the pressure. We have to kick the Government whilst it is down, after all this is what they always do to us. The Council Tax comes to mind but i digress.

At the same time we have to renew the pressure on prospective candidates for the future Government of whatever party. If candidates do not categorically state they are opposed to fluoride and especially water fluoridation then tell them to their face that you will not vote for them and will recommend to your friends that they do the same. Friends of the Earth have always steered clear of Politics with a capital P and have never recommended that we should vote for anyone, not even the Greens who we are often associated with, but we have never hesitated to Not Recommend those who pollute or exploit the environment. It is bad enough that many of our MPs have been on the make but surely when they desire to pollute and poison us as well, its time for them to go. Say No To Fluoride and those who promote or push it.

UK medicines regulator accused of maladministration

UK medicines regulator accused of maladministration over refusal to obey European Court ruling.
In a dramatic challenge, the UK's medicines regulator has been accused of deliberately failing to implement the 2005 European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that requires all 'functional drinks' to be regulated as medicines.John Spottiswoode, Chairman of 'Hampshire Against Fluoridation' (HAF), wrote to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) demanding to know why it has refused to recognise fluoridated water as a medicine. In reply, John Taylor (of the improbably-named 'MHRA Information Centre') had attempted to dismiss the complaint by refering it to its 'Medicines Borderline Section. However, Spottiswoode rejected this evasion, stating that"Our reading of the 2005 ECJ ruling (HLH Warenvertriebs and Orthica (Joined Cases C-211/03, C-299/03, C-316/03 and C-318/03) 9 June 2005) is that the 'borderline product' classification has effectively been abolished."Now, in collaboration with UKCAF, John has accused the Agency of claiming to rely on this ECJ ruling case to support its position, when it actually demolishes it altogether. He says"There can be no more damning evidence of the deliberate and politically-influenced improper exercise of (your) regulatory function. The ECJ ruling MUST be enforced in every member state - failing to do so for the past four years appears to constitute very serious maladministration, and demands an immediate Inquiry."In a dramatic escalation of the confrontation, Taylor has now informed Spottiswoode that the Agency has referred the matter to its solicitors for an opinion, and will reply as soon as this is available.This is a very important escalation of the challenge to the Agency over its persistent refual to concede that fluoridated water is a medicine. It has now been forced
into a corner, and must explain its position publicly and in detail. Any opinion will now need to be completely robust and verifiable, in Court if necessary, as any cracks will be pounced upon by those expert lawyers who have been waiting for an opportunity to test the Agency's increasingly desperate attempts to to justify its extremly shaky position.

Press Release: Working with Political Parties

Hampshire Against Fluoridation represents the 72% of concerned local people who responded with a resounding NO to having industrial grade fluoride added to their drinking water. The decision by unelected board members of the South Central Strategic Health Authority to go ahead despite this strong and cogent opposition has meant there has been widespread anger and disillusionment. Trust in local democracy and in the health authorities has been seriously damaged.
This week there are elections both locally in Hampshire and across Europe for the EU. Although Hampshire Against Fluoridation is not politically aligned, John Spottiswoode, Chairperson said: “HAF are happy to work with any political party that opposes water fluoridation and we will actively support individuals with a strong commitment to keep fluoride out of our drinking water. We have had very positive and helpful support from several senior politicians. In particular we would like to commend the following for their active work in the fight against fluoridation:
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP, who has taken up the fluoridation issue in Europe
Councillors Anna McNair Scott and Alan Dowden of Hampshire County Council who helped gain unanimous opposition to fluoridation from Hampshire Councillors.
Dr Julian Lewis, Conservative MP for New Forest East
Sandra Gidley, Liberal Democrat MP for Romsey
Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh
John Spottiswoode continued: “As water fluoridation is a government policy, it has meant that a misguided politically motivated decision to fluoridate has been made in Southampton . Therefore we need political change and Hampshire Against Fluoridation is willing to work with politicians who strongly oppose fluoridation from across the political spectrum. We will also assist them to replace pro-fluoridation politicians at all levels of government. By working together on this issue and putting party politics to one side, the group hope to join forces with local politicians to focus on the important campaign of keeping our area’s drinking water supply fluoride free.
Ends.
For more information please contact:
John Spottiswoode, Hampshire Against Fluoridation
14 Evelyn Crescent , Southampton , SO15 5JE
Email: http://uk.mc867.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=john.spottiswoode@btinternet.com
or by telephone 02380 789230, work mobile: 07500 331900

FLUORIDE, NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY BUT A CONSPIRACY REALITY

I remember during the 1960's being told by assorted Government ministers that the future lay in the development of Nuclear Power We were told that it was wonderful, safe and best of all, "so cheap that it was not worth metering" Even Tony Benn the first Minister of Technology under the Wilson Government recited this mantra. Sadly for Mr Benn, he had been sold a lie. and only in 1979 did he learn that from a senior scientist in the Generating Board, that while he was actually a minister, and unknown to him, plutonium from our civil nuclear power stations was being sent to America for their own military programme. To cut a long story short, not only was nuclear power far from safe, it was also three times as expensive as coal as a means of generating electricity and this did not even include the cost of safe disposal of the radioactive waste or the clean up of contaminated sites. There is still no safe means of disposal to date and there is not even a reasonable estimate of the long terms costs of disposal and clean up. The only thing of any value was in fact the plutonium. True it was deadly and very long lasting but it did make extremely good nuclear bombs and warheads. This gave it great value to the military-industrial boys and all they had to do was tell lots of lies about its safety and value for money. Mr Benn, like you and I was being treated like mushrooms, ie; kept in the dark and fed on shit.

This will sound awfully familiar to those who follow the fluoride and fluoridation story. A toxic bi product, deadly to life and the environment, sold to the population by vested interests under the guise of something beneficial and useful. This shows only that if a lie is shouted loud enough and long enough it becomes the truth or at least orthodoxy which is just another word for gullable idiots or vested interests with much to gain from keeping the mushrooms (you and I) in the dark. Its little wonder that MPs and Ministers in our Government cannot be trusted to claim only those expenses they are legally and morally entitled to, they are so hardened to their wickedness that they wouldnt recognise the truth if it kicked them in the goolies.

I think i will be voting for the Greens in the Local and European Elections this coming Thursday. We have not had many Green candidates in my part of the world so i will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are not telling lies about abandoning all fluoridation and hope that they keep their expenses claims under a close watch. Clearly we cannot vote for the main parties who still believe in First to the Trough so its got to be whatever reasonable alternatives are available and of the smaller parties, the Greens are the only ones who are not, nutcases or thugs and who know what sustainability actually means.