It's one thing for a newspaper to mislead or have biased opinions that they post, but it's quite another to put words in somebody's mouth that they never said, and then publish it nationwide as though they did - we already knew last November's election that pro-fluoride groups were misquoting the Harvard research, giving a spin to it that Harvard was either just quoting the study done in China (which Harvard corrected), or they didn't use enough fluoride or used too much fluoride, and couldn't be comparable (which Harvard corrected), but now to give the appearance that the Harvard scientists told Wichita not to use their study to decide on fluoridating the Wichita water, and then using the media to publish that false statement countrywide??!!! That's libel -- and if they verbalized it, it's also slander. Harvard needs to stop these "media myths" because the media knows if you say a lie often enough, it becomes truth in people's minds - it's called "The Big Lie Technique" that Hitler's PR men used to discredit political opponents and confuse the public's minds

 

MARCH 20, 2013

How the "Wichita Eagle" (Kansas) Misled the Public

 

"...As many of you know, the fluoride-lobby directed a great deal of their time and money this past summer and fall on an attempt to force fluoridation on the residents of Wichita, Kansas. Thankfully, local campaigners were successful in educating citizens who eventually voted against fluoridating the water supply by a 60%-40% vote. During the entire debate, the local newspaper--the Wichita Eagle—heavily promoted fluoridation in its editorial pages, and published many news stories that appeared to share a pro-fluoride slant.

 

"One such news article entitled “Harvard Scientists: Data on fluoride, IQ not applicable in U.S.”, was a glaring example of how the paper’s pro-fluoride bias infiltrated their news stories. The article was the Eagle’s coverage of the recent peer reviewed research paper published by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health linking fluoride exposure to lower IQ in children. The Wichita paper’s opening paragraph on the Harvard IQ study declared:

“Harvard university scientists say Wichita voters shouldn’t depend on a research study they compiled to decide whether to put fluoride in the city’s drinking water to fight tooth decay.”

 

"This, however, was false. Dr. Philippe Grandjean, the senior scientist on the Harvard team, has criticized the Wichita paper for deceptively attributing its own conclusions on fluoridation to the Harvard scientists. Fluoridation’s potential to produce “chemical brain drain,” Grandjean writes, is an issue that “definitely deserves concern.”

 

"Now the pro-fluoride lobby is citing this inaccurate article across the country whenever the Harvard study is brought up in an effort to convince decision-makers and the public to disregard fluoride’s link to reduced IQ..."

 

Read FAN’s Full Report on the Wichita Eagle’s Poor Reporting