Canadian behind controversial fluoride research spoke to conference featuring anti-vaxxers, COVID conspiracists
Breadcrumb Trail Links
Christine Till said she didn’t know who else was presenting until the organizers sent her an agenda two weeks before the event
Author of the article:
Release date:
September 30, 2020 • • September 30, 2020 • • Read for 4 minutes • • 39 comments 
British doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose license was revoked for a study on autism and vaccinations, chaired a medical conference in Nashville, which was also attended by York University professor Christine Till. Photo by Charles Rex Arbogas / The Associated Press / File
Article content
Christine Till is battling critics of her research linking fluoridated water and lower IQs in children this month and has received strong endorsement this month.
The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) was positive about the study by the professor at York University and others who looked into the matter. Fluoride is “seen as a cognitive risk to neuronal development,” the government agency concluded in a revised report on the subject that reflects Till’s own concerns.
However, the neuropsychologist’s virtual appearance at a conference in Nashville in early September is unlikely to calm the naysayers.
Till spoke about her fluoride research, but speakers at the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology included a who’s who of the movements against vaccination and COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
Among them were the exhausted British doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose study of vaccines and autism was exposed as fraudulent, and Judy Mikovits, a former biochemist who starred in a viral video that published a litany of false information about the coronavirus.
advertising
This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Wakefield and another of the moderators were stripped of their medical license while Mikovits was briefly arrested after allegedly taking lab notebooks and other proprietary information from a research facility where she worked.
It’s hard to say what responsibility scientists have to review other speakers, but this conference was “obviously absurd,” said Wake Cafieldfield, professor of health policy at the University of Alberta and crusader against health misinformation.
“The presence of a legitimate scientist at a dubious event gives credibility to both the event and the ideas that are being pushed,” he said. “It sends the message that speakers like Wakefield and Mikovits are equal to respected scientists who advocate scientifically plausible views.”
Christine Till, Associate Professor at York University. Photo from yorku.ca
Till said she was invited to attend the conference, which was physically held in Nashville, in January when speaking on the Internet from Toronto. She said she didn’t know who else was presenting until the organizers sent her an agenda two weeks before the event.
Till also said she was unaware of Mikovit’s role in the planemy. The video has been viewed millions of times online and falsely implied that wearing a mask could “activate” COVID-19, that the Italy outbreak was linked to flu vaccinations and that beach sand and seawater could cure the virus. Facebook and other social media platforms have switched off the film.
advertising
This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In the meantime, the Canadian academic stressed that she does not accept payment from the IAOMT and supports vaccination for children, as her colleagues refuse.
“You may be wondering what I was thinking, why I accepted the invitation?” She said in an interview. “Just because I speak to an organization doesn’t mean I endorse the other speakers’ views. For me, the invitation to speak is to present our research and make it available to this group.”
![York University Associate Professor Christine Till has vigorously defended her work and stated that it is in line with other research looking into the neurological effects of fluoride.]()
International experts call for an independent review of Canadian research linking fluoride and lower IQ
![“We are scientists. We're letting the data tell the story and people still don't believe it, ”said lead author of the fluoridation study, York psychology professor Christine Till.]()
“So much is at stake”: Scientists urge data to be published behind the controversial Canadian fluoride study
![A study published on August 19, 2019 links exposure to fluoridated tap water during pregnancy to lower IQ scores in infants. However, several outside experts expressed concern about the methodology and questioned the results. Fluoride has been added to municipal water supplies in industrialized countries since the 1950s to prevent tooth decay. Very high levels of the mineral have been found to be toxic to the brain, although the concentrations observed in fluoridated tap water are generally considered safe.]()
US experts reject Canadian study on the effects of fluoride in water
IAOMT itself is not exactly a mainstream scientific organization. The main cause is to stop using metal amalgam dental fillings, arguing that the mercury they contain is toxic. While the US Food and Drug Administration recently suggested that children under six, pregnant women, and some other vulnerable groups avoid amalgam fillings – based on “very limited” evidence of potential harm – a number of studies state that have found it safe for most people.
advertising
This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The best-known speaker at the September 10-12 conference is Wakefield, who has found a home in the US anti-immunization movement since his study of autism and vaccines was discredited and his UK license removed.
Mikovits gained some notoriety in 2009 with a study that appeared to identify a mouse virus as the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. Further research disproved the theory and resulted in its original work being withdrawn. Since leaving her research facility, Mikovits has been promoting vaccine ideas.
Marc Geier, who also spoke at the conference and linked vaccines and autism, had his medical license revoked in Maryland and other states because of his treatment of autistic children and his misrepresentation as an epidemiologist and geneticist. Another speaker was retired chemistry professor Boyd Haley, who has long advocated the discredited notion that mercury in vaccines causes autism.
Just because I’m speaking to an organization doesn’t mean I endorse the other speakers’ views
Till has become something of a lightning rod in the fluoridated water debate since she published a study last year that found that increases in fluoride levels in pregnant women were linked to slightly lower IQs in their children.
Fluoridation experts wrote to York University last week calling for an independent review of the professor’s research, suggesting it may put ideology above science.
advertising
This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Some reviews of their study have challenged their methodology and statistical analysis. But the NTP cited it and other research as saying that there is “a moderate level” of evidence that fluoride is associated with cognitive effects in children.
Till said the conclusions were not a surprise given that the high profile journal, which published its own work, initially subjected them to an unusual amount of scrutiny and peer review.
“We responded to hundreds of reviews to get the study published,” she said. “I haven’t heard anything new.”
(Changed September 30 at 10 a.m. to correct Caulfield’s affiliation.)
• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: tomblackwellNP
Share this article on your social network
advertising
This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.
advertising
This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Posted newsletter
By clicking the “Subscribe” button, you agree to receive the above-mentioned newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for registering!
Remarks
Postmedia strives to maintain a vibrant but civil discussion forum and to encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. It can take up to an hour for comments to be moderated before they appear on the website. We ask that you keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have turned on email notifications. You will now receive an email when you get a reply to your comment, when a comment thread you’re following is updated, or when a user follows comments. For more information and details on customizing your email settings, see our Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed.