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Yellow card shown to European Commission over fluoride risks to Irish children
Press Release, Dublin, Wednesday 25th November 2009
The formal dialogue session on Risk Assessment between stakeholders and the EU’s scientific committees on Nov 20th in Brussels heard criticism of the Commission, as the risk manager, for failing to protect children from fluoride risks. Only in Ireland and parts of the UK are fluoridation chemicals allowed in drinking water, where there is now an epidemic of dental fluorosis in children.“ It’s a sad day for European science” said VOICE’s campaigner against fluoridation, Robert Pocock, when the EU’s Scientific Committee on the Environment and Health(SCHER) is accused of being unqualified for its task. Yet the 20,000 member International Society of Doctors for Environment (ISDE) made just such a claim, when the Commission asked SCHER for scientific risk assessment of fluoridation chemicals.
ISDE declared that since fluoride chemicals act pharmacologically, SCHER’s lack of expertise in assessing medicinal substances is a serious impediment. In light of this major defect, the VOICE spokesman told the meeting, SCHER members should re-consider their role in this whole affair. Pocock also said that it was six long years since the 2003 EU Drinking Water Seminar in Brussels, that the World Health Organisation in Geneva had promised within four months a similar risk assessment of the fluorosilicic acid in Irish drinking water, before he added “We are still awaiting it”.
Another yellow card was shown to the Commission for failing to abide by its own rules requiring Rapid Advice when an urgent public health threat demands it. With some sixty children in Ireland each month (plus another 120 in the UK) getting moderate or severe dental fluorosis, there is ample reason for the Commission to invoke Rapid Advice in order to protect childen from this unnecessary risk. The Scientific Committee on New and Emerging Health Risks(SCENIHR) reported how it had engaged other EU agencies including the European Medicines Evaluation Agency(EMEA) in assessing antimicrobial risk, an initiative fully endorsed by the Commission.
Yet when faced with the official Irish evidence of an epidemic of dental fluorosis in children in Ireland (and pro rata in the UK) caused by an unlicensed medicinal substance in these two member states, the Commission refuses to engage with EMEA, surely cause for another yellow card? VOICE has already called for the CEO of EMEA to stand aside for this blatant failure to enforce pharmacovigilance in Ireland and the UK, one possible explanation for EMEA’s inaction being that its CEO Mr Pat O’Mahony is also CEO of the Irish Medicines Board. As the risk manager and medicines regulator within the Commission, EMEA should have enforced the relevant directive years ago.
Instead the Commission has passed the buck to an EU scientific committee unqualified for the task. The clear losers in this regulatory failure are at-risk children and the credibility of EU science.
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Food Matters: On the Farm
Eating Oil and Water : The Farm Stage
Intensive animal rearing plays a major role in the impact food has on climate change and also accounts for massive water usage. It has been estimated that the agriculture sector alone accounts for about 26% of Ireland’s total greenhouse gas emissions.[1] Beef is a particular challenge to climate change, because of the energy used in its farming, and the methane that cattle release into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.
Equally worrying is the finding that agriculture accounts for the largest human use of water.[2] Not only is water scarcity a global epidemic that needs immediate attention, water taken obtained from Irish rivers, lakes and aquifers have repercussions on local communities and functions. The meat and dairy industry uses more water than fruits, vegetables and grains. In the total system, it is estimated that 500-4,000 litres of water are evaporated when producing one Kg of wheat while it takes 5,000 to 20,000 litres of water to produce one Kg of meat, all things consistent such as climate, agriculture practices, seasonal variety etc.[3]
Water is used in huge quantities to feed and hydrate livestock. The majority of water used at the farm stage goes into growing the seed need to make up the cereal fed to the livestock. Water is a problem in irrigated systems where huge amounts of energy go into pumping, sourcing and dispersing irrigated water sources. Fuel is also used heavily to power the tractors and machinery. Cattle, as compared to pigs and chickens, consume the most soy-meal feed, often derived from cleared South American rainforests, another way the industry weighs heavily on the environment.
[1] Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO): Analysis of the lifecycle environmental impacts related to the final consumption of theEUhttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/pdf/eipro_report.pdf
[2] Saving Water: from Field to Fork Curbing losses and Wastage in the Food Chain International Water Management Institute 2008
[3 Falkenmark and Rockstramen, 2004, Report pg 11 ,
Food Matters: Manufacturing stage
Food processors rely on the petrol based delivery of fresh or refrigerated food. They use emulsifiers, preservatives, colouring agents and other additives many of which rely on oil-based energy sources. Energy is needed to run the machinery that prepares, cleans, and cooks food at this stage. Huge amounts of water are also used to clean and process food products.
Food Matters: Distribution- a complex issue
Foods, once grown, picked and packaged are then flown all around the world. Different methods of transport vary greatly in their use of energy and subsequently the amounts of CO2 emitted. Air-freight, train and cargo ship are the most common ways to transport foods. Planes emit more greenhouse gases per mile than any other mode of transport. It is has been estimated that transport by plane generates 177 times more greenhouse gases than shipping does.[1 The distance travelled by food from the farm to your plate is called Food Miles. The term 'food miles' was coined in the 1990s by Dr Tim Lang, professor of food policy at London's City University. The food in the average family basket has travelled at least 2,000 miles (and some estimations are as high as 9,000 miles, depending on what you buy).
Green beans imported from Kenya travel 4,900 food miles, apples from the US clock up roughly 3,700 food miles, and beef from Argentina typically travels 6,900 food miles.[2] Once these foods have reached Ireland, they then have to be distributed by train, car and truck. it has been estimated that food transport is responsible for 25 percent of the miles clocked up on our congested roads and the sheer amount of food transported on our roads has doubled since the 1970s. 
It seems as though eating local and Irish produce would be the solution. But unfortunately, it is not that simple. Kenyan green beans flown to our plates can be over 20 times more greenhouse gas intensive than their UK seasonal counterparts– this is obvious. However, when we consider the methods used to grow and process certain foods, the miles they travel to reach Ireland may not actually be that bad. Ironically, the foods flown to Ireland from warmer climates are grown under natural sunlight and so do not use the heavier energy intensive methods needed to grow produce in colder climates such as heated greenhouses. For example, due to the large amounts of energy needed to heat greenhouses, roses imported to the UK in winter from Holland generated six times more greenhouse gases than roses imported from Kenya, even though those from Kenya were air-freighted. 
Also, there are important social issues to consider. If we were to avoid all foods flown from afar we would cause considerable damage to the trade income on which so many developing countries depend.
So what can we do? VOICE has a number of tips and solutions for how you can become more of a green and ethical consumer in the ‘Food Matters:what can I do’ article found here.
[1] ‘Food Miles’, BBC bloom website,www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/localseasonalfood.shtml
[2] ‘Food miles: The true cost of putting imported food on your plate’ Joanna Blythman, 31 May 2007 Independent.co.uk