28 Feb 2016 – last update Sep 2019 – last modified 2021
The University of Calgary’s forced-fluoridation marketer Lindsay McLaren is the lead author of a recent (February 2016) “study” comparing dental statistics in children in Calgary and Edmonton. The Fluoride Action Network and Trevor Sheldon have written about some of the study’s major problems. I could go into more detail, but the failure of the study to demonstrate any causal link is so obvious it seems redundant. Instead, I will draw your attention to the contrasting conclusions of McLaren’s own journal article and her statements in the media.
The journal article
- Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
Measuring the short-term impact of fluoridation cessation on dental caries in Grade 2 children using tooth surface indices -
CONCLUSIONS: Trends observed for primary teeth were consistent with an adverse effect of fluoridation cessation on children’s tooth decay, 2.5–3 years post-cessation. Trends for permanent teeth hinted at early indication of an adverse effect. It is important that future data collection efforts in the two cities be undertaken, to permit continued monitoring of these trends.
Lindsay McLaren et al
Note the lack of any claim of having demonstrated a causal link.
The media statements
- University of Calgary website
Study shows tooth decay worsened in Calgary children after fluoride removal: Cumming researcher Lindsay McLaren finds fluoridation is a public health measure worth maintaining -
“This study points to the conclusion that tooth decay has worsened following removal of fluoride from drinking water, especially in primary teeth, and it will be important to continue monitoring these trends,” says Lindsay McLaren, PhD, the study’s lead author from the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine and O’Brien Institute for Public Health.
University of Calgary - Edmonton Journal
Since Calgary stopped fluoridating water, children have more tooth decay than in Edmonton, study says -
“Our results show that even after a relatively short period of time, we have seen a negative effect of removing fluoride from the drinking water,” said Lindsay McLaren, a public health researcher at the University of Calgary and lead author of the study.
Edmonton Journal - CTV News
Study shows dental health in Calgary children suffering from fluoride cessation -
“This study points to the conclusion that tooth decay has worsened following removal of fluoride from drinking water, especially in primary teeth, and it will be important to continue monitoring these trends,” she said.…
“It’s a statistically significant finding, which means that it’s unlikely to be a random or a chance finding,” said McLaren.CTV News - The Globe and Mail
Calgary study suggests kids have more cavities without fluoridation of water -
“We believe that the reason [the rate of tooth decay] got worse in Calgary than in Edmonton was because fluoridation was stopped,” Lindsay McLaren, a professor and researcher in the department of community health sciences at the University of Calgary, said in an interview.
The Globe and Mail - CBC
Lack of fluoride in Calgary drinking water leads to rise in kids’ tooth decay, study indicates: University of Calgary study shows rise in decay worst in baby teeth -
“We designed the study so we could be as sure as possible that [the increased tooth decay] was due to [fluoride] cessation rather than due to other factors,” she told the CBC.
“We systematically considered a number of other factors … and in the end, everything pointed to fluoridation cessation being the most important factor.”CBC - Huffington Post
Calgary Removed Fluoride from Water and Saw an Increase in Tooth Decay -
“We designed the study so we could be as sure as possible that [the increased tooth decay] was due to [fluoride] cessation rather than due to other factors,” said Lindsay McLaren, a researcher at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine who led the study. “We systematically considered a number of other factors and in the end, everything pointed to fluoridation cessation being the most important factor.”
Huffington Post
Conclusion
Make your own judgement. My judgement is that Lindsay McLaren is a bald-faced liar who should lose her job at the University of Calgary. Her media statements flatly contradict the conclusions, methods, and results of her own study, which is itself of such poor quality it is virtually meaningless. This is something we see time and time again from the professional fluoridationists. The mainstream media have fulfilled their usual role of corporate shills, with some outlets being more rabid than others.
14 October 2017 update: A response to Lindsay McLaren’s nonsense has been published in a dental journal (Neurath et al 2017).
10 September 2019 update: Lindsay McLaren has been at it again. Shortly after the publication of an important study linking prenatal fluoride exposure to reduced IQ in Canadian children which appeared in the journal JAMA Pediatrics (Green et al 2019) in August, she was quoted in Science as saying “Public policy is ideally formed not by any one study”. According to the article (Drinking fluoridated water during pregnancy may lower IQ in sons, controversial study says by Michael Price, 19 August 2019), her position is that “it’s too early to change fluoridation practices” even though “the study appears both credible and methodologically sound”.
Assuming she has not been misrepresented, Lindsay McLaren is a serial offender. The Green study is just the latest in a large body of research on the developmental neurotoxicity of fluoride, not something which has come out of the blue, as portrayed by the mainstream media and various “experts”. Regardless, McLaren is implicitly admitting that the dumping of fluoridation chemicals into public water supplies is a human experiment without consent, and is therefore a violation of the Nuremberg Code. I can’t think of any good reason why she should not go to jail for the rest of her life.
References
- Green R, Lanphear B, Hornung R, et al. (2019). Association Between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada. JAMA Pediatrics 173(10): 940-948.
- Neurath C, Beck JS, Limeback H, et al. (2017). Limitations of fluoridation effectiveness studies: Lessons from Alberta, Canada. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 45(5): 7 pages [before print].