Irish fluoride cover-up exposed

An Irish parliamentary report that strongly recommended an immediate end to drinking water fluoridation has been uncovered, six years after it was published. In the meantime around half a million Irish children under 15 years old have been unnecessarily exposed to fluoride. One in three of these are set to develop dental fluorosis, a symptom of fluoride toxicity.

The Oireachtas (Joint Irish Houses of Parliament) Draft report on Water Fluoridation in Ireland was written in 2007 and strongly advised that “the practice of water fluoridation should end immediately”. The report was opposed at the time by Jimmy Devins, vice-chair of the Fianna Fail TD political party, suppressed by certain committee members and never put to the vote. Six years on, none of the recommendations have been implemented and dental fluorosis has continued to rise and affects around 36% of children in the Republic of Ireland. If systemic use of fluoride is affecting teeth, it follows that it is doing more damage elsewhere in the body so the question remains; why is it still be added to Irish water?

Citizen David, meet Biotech Goliath – again

Earlier this year Testbiotech coordinated filing a lawsuit along with the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) and Sambucus against an European Commission decision allowing the use of Monsanto's genetically engineered soybeans, Intacta, in food and feed (T-177/13-5). With an apparent lack of concern for human safety and a clear abuse of power, Monsanto, the European Commission, the British government and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are joining forces in their bid to keep GM soybeans legally on the market. Testbiotech claims, rightly in our view, that EFSA has not carried out the full risk assessments required by law. We’ll keep you posted on progress with the case, and remember the importance of maintaining resistance to GMOs and saying NO to GM at every possible opportunity.

The potential effects of ending the ‘sell through’ of unlicensed herbal remedies in the UK

The UK’s medicines regulator, the MHRA, has announced its proposal to end the ‘sell through’ period of unlicensed herbal remedies. Until now, the ‘sell through’ has meant that retailers (and practitioners) have been able to continue selling any unregistered manufactured herbal medicines that were previously allowed under since-replaced Section 12(2) of the Medicines Act of 1968 that were already in the sales pipeline and were also within their ‘sell by date’.

Commenting on this, ANH-Intl’s executive director, Robert Verkerk PhD said, “It’s inevitable this would happen, as the law to do it was already in place. The clock’s been ticking since May 2011 and the MHRA was unlikely to accept shelf lives of much longer than 2 years. But more disconcertingly, it could signify the beginning of a much more rigorous enforcement effort by the MHRA and Trading Standards for products they don’t want on the market, especially herbal food supplements. The MHRA has chosen so far not to really go after TCM and Ayurvedic products, testing the waters with Western herbal products that are seen to compete with those registered as traditional herbal medicines. We urgently need much more solid criteria on which to make decisions about the food/medicine borderline, and this can only be provided by judicial review, something we’re a long way down the road in preparing.”

Rob Verkerk has just been interviewed on this issue by the China Daily and we look forward to being able to point you to the full interview later this month.