The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-08-20

information From An Authority
The Editor
The Key West Citizen
Sir:
would like to avail myself Of
your column to address q letter to
Mr.. Bill Glib.
Dear Mr.. Glib:
Like 80 many of your readers ]
heartily endorse much Of what you
have to say in your column. How
ever, believe you err when you
take the position that huoridation
Of the water supply is undesirable.
On July 2sth you made refer.
ences to Congressional Hearings
Testimony" / take this to refer
to the hearings conducted by the
House Of Representatives Inter-
state and Foreign Commerce Com.
mittee on a bill introduced by Rep.
Weir I'd. Mimi which would have
outIawed the huoridation Of public
water supplies in the United Sta
ties. l think it is a safe assump-
ton that all those who had an in
terest in the matter and who were
worth hearing were heard from at
this time.
Arranged on the side of huori-
dalton were men of demonstrated
scientific stature. Appearing for
the American Dental Association
were Harold Gale, chairman of the
Council on Legislation and friendly
Dean, Secretary Of the Council on
Dental Research. DR.. Gale read a
letter from George F. Lull, M. D.,
Secretary and General Manager of
the American Medical Association,
explaining the A. M. AS endorse
ment Of the huoridation procedure.
IT can say that the A. M. A.
endorses nuoridation of public wa
ter supplies" the letter from DR..
Lull said. Gerald Smith and ma
ny others have twisted the words
around because Of the fact in
one action of the House Of Dele
gates the word principle was used.
No matter what words were used,
the endorsement is that public wa
ter supplies should be huoridated
in order to prevent dental carries
in. children"
In other testimony, DR.. Dean,
former director Of the National In
stitute Of Dental Research, des-
cribed studies Of the dental effects
Of huorides in the water supplies
carried on in many parts of the
world beginning in 1901. DR.. Dean,
who is internationally know for his
20 years of research on huorides
said studies show that adults who
have lived since infancy in COM
munities containing fluorides in the
water supply have about IS per
cent less dental decay and IS per
cent less loss Of teeth than persons
in fluoride-free areas.
DR.. Dean also emphasized that
to call fluoridation mass-rnedica-
'Fluoridation is not q treatment
for dental carries. Dental carries is
a non-healing lesion; dental enam-
Ell, once injured, never repairs it.
self with or without medication.
Fluorine simply prevents the decay
from developing"
Appearing for the United States
Public Health Service were John
w. Knutson, D. d. S., chief dental
officer; Isadore Zipkin, M. S., Ph.
d., senior scientist at the National
Institute of Dental Research, and
Nicholas Leone, M. D., Phi. D., M.
P. H., chief OF medical investiga-
ton at the Institute Of Dental Re-
search.
DR.. Zipkin, 4 biochemist, brought
out the fact that practically all
foods contain some huorides and
reported on number of studies
indicating that even with nuorides
in water at levels four or five
times greater than that advocated
for carries prevention, there was no
effect on bone development or frac-
ture experience.
DR.. Leone reported on a ten
year study. begun in 1913 in Bart
lett, Texas, where fluorides occur
naturally in the water supply 1t
levels Of 8 ppm (parts per million).
The control community was Cam
eron, Texas, with o. ppm of flu.
oride in the water system. Inclui-
ed were 81 persons ranging in
age from Is to So years at the be.