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CIGARETTE MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS STILL TARGET YOUTH
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CDC RECOMMENDATIONS CITE FLUORIDE SAFETY, EFFICACY
he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Aug. 16 issued a series of recommendations for fluoride use, underscoring its safety and benefits in preventing oral disease. “Recommendations for Using Fluoride to Prevent and Control Dental Caries in the United States,” available on the CDC’s Web site at “www.cdc.gov/ mmwr/mmwr_rr.html”, is intended to provide guidance to dental and health care providers, public health officials and the general public on the best practices in using fluoride to prevent tooth decay, the CDC said in a news release. The recommendations were published in the Aug. 17 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Recommendations and Reports. “The CDC fluoride recommendations reinforce the safety and efficacy of using fluoride to prevent oral disease and underscore the need to provide community water fluoridation to more Americans,” ADA President Robert M. Anderton said in a statement. “These recommendations also confirm the Association’s long-held position that community water fluoridation is safe and effective in preventing dental decay in both children and adults.” “With multiple sources of fluoride available to us, we want to ensure that every family member gets fluoride in the right amount, right place, and at the right time,” CDC Division of Oral Health director William R. Maas said in the CDC news release. “These new recommendations will provide
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the framework for effective and efficient fluoride use in today’s environment of multiple sources of fluoride.” In addition to continued and expanded fluoridation of community drinking water, other CDC recommendations include: dfrequent use of small amounts of fluoride for all ages; djudicious use of fluoride supplements; dparental monitoring of fluoride intake for children younger than 6 years; dfluoride concentration labeling on bottled water products; deducation for health professionals and the public, as well as further research. “Our hope is that federal, state and municipal governments will take their cue from the CDC and increase their efforts to bring fluoridated water to as many communities as possible,” the ADA’s Dr. Anderton said. Selected by the CDC as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century, community water fluoridation was cited in last year’s Report of the Surgeon General on Oral Health in America as “the cornerstone of caries prevention in the United States.” More information on fluorides and water fluoridation is available online in the ADA.org Topical Index at “www.ada.org/ prof/prac/issues/topics/fluoride. html”. CIGARETTE MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS STILL TARGET YOUTH
he amount of money tobacco companies have spent for youth-oriented advertising rose slightly between 1995 and 2000,
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reported researchers in the Aug. 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Youth-oriented tobacco ads increased despite the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and the four largest tobacco companies researchers noted. The agreement prohibits tobacco advertising that targets people younger than 18 years. Boston-area researchers analyzed trends for 1995 through 2000 in the amount of money spent for advertising 15 brands of cigarettes and the exposure of young people to cigarette advertising in 38 magazines targeted to both adults and adolescents. Researchers found that cigarette advertising expenditures increased slightly between 1995 and 2000. In 1995, 24 percent of the tobacco companies’ advertising budgets was allocated to youth-oriented advertising, while 28 percent was set aside in 2000. They also found that magazine advertisements for youth brands of cigarettes reached more than 80 percent of young people in the United States an average of 17 times in 2000. Researchers concluded that the Master Settlement Agreement appears to have had little effect on cigarette advertising in magazines and on young people’s exposure to these advertisements. HERBAL MEDICATIONS MAY POSE RISKS DURING SURGERY
sing herbal medications may put patients at risk during and after surgery, said researchers in the July 11 issue Continued on page 1376
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JADA, Vol. 132, October 2001 Copyright ©1998-2001 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.
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W
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CDC RECOMMENDATIONS CITE FLUORIDE SAFETY, EFFICACY
he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Aug. 16 issued a series of recommendations for fluoride use, underscoring its safety and benefits in preventing oral disease. “Recommendations for Using Fluoride to Prevent and Control Dental Caries in the United States,” available on the CDC’s Web site at “www.cdc.gov/ mmwr/mmwr_rr.html”, is intended to provide guidance to dental and health care providers, public health officials and the general public on the best practices in using fluoride to prevent tooth decay, the CDC said in a news release. The recommendations were published in the Aug. 17 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Recommendations and Reports. “The CDC fluoride recommendations reinforce the safety and efficacy of using fluoride to prevent oral disease and underscore the need to provide community water fluoridation to more Americans,” ADA President Robert M. Anderton said in a statement. “These recommendations also confirm the Association’s long-held position that community water fluoridation is safe and effective in preventing dental decay in both children and adults.” “With multiple sources of fluoride available to us, we want to ensure that every family member gets fluoride in the right amount, right place, and at the right time,” CDC Division of Oral Health director William R. Maas said in the CDC news release. “These new recommendations will provide
T
1374
the framework for effective and efficient fluoride use in today’s environment of multiple sources of fluoride.” In addition to continued and expanded fluoridation of community drinking water, other CDC recommendations include: dfrequent use of small amounts of fluoride for all ages; djudicious use of fluoride supplements; dparental monitoring of fluoride intake for children younger than 6 years; dfluoride concentration labeling on bottled water products; deducation for health professionals and the public, as well as further research. “Our hope is that federal, state and municipal governments will take their cue from the CDC and increase their efforts to bring fluoridated water to as many communities as possible,” the ADA’s Dr. Anderton said. Selected by the CDC as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century, community water fluoridation was cited in last year’s Report of the Surgeon General on Oral Health in America as “the cornerstone of caries prevention in the United States.” More information on fluorides and water fluoridation is available online in the ADA.org Topical Index at “www.ada.org/ prof/prac/issues/topics/fluoride. html”. CIGARETTE MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS STILL TARGET YOUTH
he amount of money tobacco companies have spent for youth-oriented advertising rose slightly between 1995 and 2000,
T
reported researchers in the Aug. 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Youth-oriented tobacco ads increased despite the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and the four largest tobacco companies researchers noted. The agreement prohibits tobacco advertising that targets people younger than 18 years. Boston-area researchers analyzed trends for 1995 through 2000 in the amount of money spent for advertising 15 brands of cigarettes and the exposure of young people to cigarette advertising in 38 magazines targeted to both adults and adolescents. Researchers found that cigarette advertising expenditures increased slightly between 1995 and 2000. In 1995, 24 percent of the tobacco companies’ advertising budgets was allocated to youth-oriented advertising, while 28 percent was set aside in 2000. They also found that magazine advertisements for youth brands of cigarettes reached more than 80 percent of young people in the United States an average of 17 times in 2000. Researchers concluded that the Master Settlement Agreement appears to have had little effect on cigarette advertising in magazines and on young people’s exposure to these advertisements. HERBAL MEDICATIONS MAY POSE RISKS DURING SURGERY
sing herbal medications may put patients at risk during and after surgery, said researchers in the July 11 issue Continued on page 1376
U
JADA, Vol. 132, October 2001 Copyright ©1998-2001 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.