by: Julie Wilson staff writer
(NaturalNews) Thanks to emerging research, the health effects connected to water fluoridation are finally being acknowledged by the mainstream media as being, at the very least, controversial and most likely damaging.
For over 65 years, the federal government has told us that water fluoridation is good for our health; however, research continues to illustrate the long-term damaging effects of adding an industrial byproduct to the water supply.
Not only is fluoride bad for your health, but the concept of adding it to the public's water without informed consent is completely unethical and arguably criminal. Forced medication is not to be taken lightly, according to the American Medical Association's (AMA) (the largest association of physicians and medical students) own standards for medical ethics.
Science continues to validate earlier claims about the adverse health affects of water fluoridation
As Natural News has been reporting for years, and as new science continues to support such claims, water fluoridation may cause a variety of health problems, including lowered IQs, hypothyroidism and increased risks for certain cancers.
About 50 percent of all fluoride ingested is stored in the body, accumulating in tissues such as teeth, bones and the pineal gland in the brain, according to Richard Wiles, co-founder of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a research organization based in Washington, D.C.
One of the most recent studies documenting the adverse health effects of water fluoridation comes from the University of Kent, a public research university in the United Kingdom.
Scientists studied data obtained from nearly every medical practice in England and discovered that fluoride may be increasing the risk for hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid gland fails to produce enough hormones, resulting in symptoms such as fatigue, obesity and depression.
Published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the study included the largest population ever analyzed in relation to the adverse health effects caused by water fluoridation.
Because an underactive thyroid is known to cause depression, weight gain, fatigue and aching muscles, the study showed that nearly 15,000 people could be unnecessarily suffering from these symptoms due to fluoride being added to the water.
New science showing adverse health effects of fluoride further implicates the government in the mass water fluoridation scandal
With this new information, it makes adding fluoride to the water without informed consent even more criminal.
"The patient's right of self-decision can be effectively exercised only if the patient possesses enough information to enable an informed choice," according to the AMA's Code of Medical Ethics.
It continues:
The patient should make his or her own determination about treatment. The physician's obligation is to present the medical facts accurately to the patient or to the individual responsible for the patient's care and to make recommendations for management in accordance with good medical practice.
Informed consent is a basic policy in both ethics and law that physicians must honor, unless the patient is unconscious or otherwise incapable of consenting and harm from failure to treat is imminent.
In regard to water fluoridation, "patients," which would be any citizen receiving fluoride through publicly supplied water, are unable to make their own decision about "treatment," or the process of adding fluoride to the water.
"Physicians should sensitively and respectfully disclose all relevant medical information to patients," states the AMA's code of ethics.
However, we all know this doesn't happen. Even with new research, the public is told that water fluoridation is SAFE and GOOD for our health, a blatant example of "all relevant medical information" not being disclosed, preventing us from making an informed decision, as outlined above.
Additional sources:
http://www.ama-assn.org
http://www.ama-assn.org
http://www.ama-assn.org
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/052596_water_fluoridation_medical_ethics_informed_consent.html
