Editorial note: Peckham versus Newton

The study by Peckham et al1 reporting a potential link between water fluoridation and hypothyroidism has attracted considerable interest, much of which was critical. Two commentaries published in the same issue as the original paper (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, July 2015, Volume 69, Number 7) have described the weaknesses of the ecological design and the limitations of the data, noted some inconsistencies in the results and concluded that the results are unreliable and fail to demonstrate a causal link between water fluoridation and hypothyroidism.2 3 We are now publishing the response by Peckham et al to the critical commentaries, and a final counterpoint response by Newton et al. Not entirely unexpectedly, both sides of the argument remain far apart in their views. Given the amount of interest in this controversial paper, and given the implication in the final piece by Newton...
Source: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Tags: Commentaries Source Type: research