FLUORIDE DATE LECTURE #35 - bAD NEWS: TOXIC WASTE SUPPLY DIMINISHING
Good afternoon, Mayor Leffingwell and councilmembers. Back in May, when stories of imported Chinese fluoride clogging up a Massachusetts water system hit the news, it occurred to me to wonder whether Austin’s fluoridation chemicals might come from China too. Although Austin’s supplier’s supplier, Mosaic, operates phosphate mines in Florida, they also contract with China. So I duly contacted the Water Utility to ask that question. In answer, they sent me this certificate of proud compliance with NSF standards. These are arbitrary, voluntary and non-enforceable standards set by the National Sanitary Foundation, a private consortium of fluoride vendors and customers. The document also certifies that the scrubber waste Mosaic supplies to us, through Lucier, has been produced within the limits of the continental United States. That should have made me feel a lot better. But a week ago, the news came out that Mosaic’s largest mine, in Fort Meade, Florida, had just shut down over environmental issues, reducing the company’s future production by 30%. A 30% drop in productivity will mean a serious shortage of home grown fluoride. .
By coincidence, also a week ago, I placed an ad in NOKOA, the Observer, and since then, traffic on the Fluoride Free Austin website has markedly increased. In the same issue NOKOA’s editor, Akwasi Evans, ran a column from Natural News that talks about the heavy contamination of Chinese fluoride with lead and arsenic, juxtaposed with a picture of me speaking at the podium here. I let Mr. Evans know that Austin still uses the Florida variety so he could make that clear in the caption. But with the soon-to-be-diminished supply, who knows? At the very least, we can expect to see a price increase in the near future. .
We are reaching out to Austin’s communities of color, because it is largely in their name that the damaging policy of water fluoridation is implemented, yet they suffer disproportionately from its effects. And on November 9, when Professor. Paul Connett, author of The Case Against Fluoride visits Austin, we’re going to hold a very special event on the Huston-Tilotson campus: a public lecture and panel discussion with some respected community leaders. We’ll be giving out more details as the time draws closer. Thank you.
PARABLE OF THE WOODCHUCK: THE CDC'S RECIPE FOR SOUND DENTAL HEALTH
During these dog days of summer, when parents are preparing to send their children back to school, the CDC has chimed in to recommend that they make sure the kids are up to date with their 6-month dental appointments. Sensible advice—at least for families that can afford it.
The agency goes on, with uncharacteristic candor, to inform us that a fifth of American children aged 2-19 have untreated cavities. That’s one fifth of everybody. Not just the underprivileged kids they claim to be so concerned for (most of whom are drinking fluoridated water). It’s everybody. Nor do they hesitate to admit that the percentages are much higher among low-income and minority children.
They then go on to describe a child’s ideal “complete preventive dental program."
Fluoride. Twice-daily brushing. Wise food choices. Regular dental care. Fluoride, of course, is the most important. That’s why it comes first. .
Their prescription reminds me of an amusing conversation I had years ago with a country neighbor. We were having a discussion about woodchucks and how to get rid of them.
“It’s easy,” she informed me. “They’re very reasonable. You just write them a letter.”
A letter?
“Sure,” she continued. “Write a simple note, politely asking them to leave. Explain that they are destroying your garden by taking one bite out of each tomato, that this makes you unhappy, and that there are many other places they could live. Place the note just inside their burrow entrance. .
“Then, to make sure they can read it, shine a very bright light right on the entrance. You’ll see. Within a few days, they’ll be gone.”
While I never had occasion to try out her unique method, it’s deliciously comparable to the CDC’s vaunted oral health regime. But people are waking up to organized dentistry’s propaganda, and it’s not that hard to tell the difference between what really works and what doesn't.
ANOTHER CALL TO ACTIVISM - SUPPORT THE AUSTIN ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD'S REQUEST FOR AN INDEPENDENT FLUORIDE STUDY COMMITTEE
Earlier this week, while I was preoccupied with some medical issues, Rob Love, one of Fluoride Free Austin's most active and creative members - he designed our new Facebook page - organized a telephone campaign . Rob's, and John Bush's, initiative in their recent self-appointed tasks are examples of the flexibility that I consider one of our organization's great strengths.
Rob's letter to our membership, somewhat edited, appears below:
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Dear Fluoride Fighters,
If each of us just makes a few calls we will make a huge difference. So here is the story.
John Bush has been lobbying City Council hard, asking that they move on the Environmental Board’s recommendation that the costs and benefits of Fluoride be evaluated.
City Council has sat on this recommendation for 9 months. But with your help, they won’t be able to delay any longer.
This week we are having a phone-calling campaign. We will inundate City Council with phone calls on this issue, forcing them to take action on this item.
Today, Wednesday, please call and leave messages for:
Lee Leffingwell – Mayor: Phone: (512)974-2250
Chris Riley -Phone: (512)974-2260
Mike Martinez - Phone: (512)974-2264
Randi Shade - Phone: (512)974-2255
On Thursday, please call:
Laura Morrison - Phone: (512)974-2258
Bill Spelman - Phone: (512)974-2256
Sheryl Cole - Phone: (512)974-2266
If you can’t make all the calls on by Thursday, feel free to call Friday.The idea of calling as a unit is to really flood each office.
If you aren’t sure what to say when calling, here is an easy script to follow:
“Hello, my name is ____ and I am an Austin resident. I am very concerned with the safety of the water in Austin, specifically the amount of fluoride that is added to it.
I want the City Council to move forward with the Environmental Board’s recommendation and set up an independent task force to evaluate the costs and benefits of water fluoridation.”
If you want to say more, you can add: “I want fluoride removed from our drinking water. Fluoride is medication. It says on the back of my toothpaste tube not to swallow it. Adding fluoride to the drinking water is forcing medication upon the people. I am strongly
against forced medication. No government should have the right to dictate what medications I ingest.”
Or, if you want to keep it simple, you might say, something like, “Adding Fluoride to the drinking water is forcing mass medication with a toxin well-known to harm the bones, thyroid and kidneys of many people, some more than others.. Please remove it from our water.”’
And please, say whatever you like. You are the concerned citizen, so voice your concern however you see fit.
If you get really inspired, please write letters to the council members,saying something similar to the above. I find calling pretty easy, and I don’t want to ask anybody to pay 50 cents per stamp to write each council member. But if you are motivated, rock on!
This is our first collective action as a group. So have fun with it!
Yours in Liberty,
-Rob
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Since I learned of this campaign too late to pre-publicize it in this blog, I propose that those of you who haven't already made your calls do it today (Friday) or next Monday. You get another chance!
THE CASE AGAINST FLUORIDE: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep it There
THE CASE AGAINST FLUORIDE: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep it There - by Paul Connett, PhD; James Beck, MD, PhD and H.S. Micklem, DPhil. CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING - publication date October 2010
The title might be a mouthful, but this eminently readable book is the clearest, most persuasive exposition of the water fluoridation debacle ever set in print. Written by Fluoride Action Network director Paul Connett with two distinguished colleagues, it skillfully marries the science, history and politics of fluoride in a manner useful to novice and expert alike.
Superbly organized and abundantly annotated, this is the book to give your skeptical brother-in-law for Christmas; the book we've all been waiting for. You can order it in advance from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1603582878/optimalwellnessc
FLUORIDE DATE LECTURE #34 - HYDROFLUOSILICIC ACID: THE POISON YOU'RE DRINKING (AND PAYING FOR)
Good afternoon, Mayor Leffingwell and Council members. On the screen, you’ll see the label for hydrofluosilicic acid which must appear on the tanker trunk as it rolls along the hazmat highway between Jacksonville, Florida, home of the vendor Lucier Ltd. to the Austin Water Utility. Hydrofluosilicic acid is, of course, the chemical used for fluoridating Austin's drinking water: Lucier calls it fluorosilicic acid (it has at least 20 names), but it's the same thing. It wasn’t easy to find this image. Let me read it to you in part:
· DANGER – POISON and not one but two skull and crossbones symbols. [They really mean it.]
· WARNING – DO NOT TAKE INTERNALLY. [Sounds like a good idea.]
· Avoid contact with skin, eyes, mouth and clothing.
· Avoid breathing fumes or vapor.
· Special protection information: Respirators approved for fluorine, rubber gloves, chemical goggles and a protective apron or acid resistant clothing should be used. Special precautions should be taken in handling and storing material.
· ANTIDOTE: Skin: copious amounts of water. Internal: contact physician.
· Other: consult physician if ingestion has occurred
· And then there’s a warning about what happens when it contacts fire and directions on what to do when it spills. Not nice stuff to be around.
Now, up in the right hand corner are the magic words that turn this poison from a hazardous pollutant into a benign product: “Directions for Water Fluoridation”: Application of this product for water fluoridation is subject to approval of all interested state and local health authorities. Its use should conform to the American Water Works Association’s “statement of recommended policy and procedure.”
We know that all interested state and local health authorities have been rubberstamping water fluoridation for decades despite mounting evidence of both harm and ineffectiveness. The American Water Works Association’s jurisdiction pertains only to handling procedures.
Finally: “Exact dosage must not raise the total fluoride concentration in drinking water above 1.5 parts per million.” (U.S. Public Health Service maximum limit). That’s hardly reassuring. It was the U.S. Public Health Service which, in 1950, first caved in to corporate pressure to endorse water fluoridation, triggering the disastrous cascade of copycat bureaucratic endorsements that keep it in place to this day.
Look at the label again. That’s what we spend millions of dollars to put in our water. Thank you for your time.
FLUORIDE DATE LECTURE #33 - A PRODUCTIVE JULY
Good afternoon, Mayor Leffingwell and Council members. A lot has happened lately. On July 1, celebrated natural health writer, Dr. Mercola, formally announced his commitment to ending water fluoridation nationwide. Further, he showcased Austin as one of three places with outstanding anti-fluoride movements underway (the other two being San Diego and Ontario, Canada.). It’s quite an honor to have created such a buzz with zero help from the Statesman or local network TV, and we are justly proud.
The very next day, Fluoride Free Austin experts met with the director of the Austin/Travis County Health Department, his chief medical officer, and Austin Water Utility employees to discuss possible ways of warning the public about the harm of mixing infant formula with fluoridated water. Health departments elsewhere, including the state of Vermont’s, have already taken that ethical step: Austin should too.
Linda Greene and I have just returned, energized, from the Fluoride Action Network's national conference in Canton, New York. The Fluoride Action Network—abbreviated to F-A-N, or FAN—the premiere organization opposing water fluoridation throughout North America. There we met a lot of very smart people with very good ideas. They included FAN’s director, Paul Connett, an environmental chemistry professor at St. Lawrence University. Dr. Connett has a book coming out soon called The Case Against Fluoride, which summarizes 80 years of fluoridation science and politics in a concise, readable way. He’ll be visiting Austin this fall, and will welcome opportunities to engage with the public, including city officials
As public resistance to water fluoridation builds—and it is—I would ask that City Council follow its own Environmental Board’s recommendation of last August 16 and December 2 to convene an impartial task force to revisit the subject. That has already been successfully done in other cities like Juneau, Alaska. A truly independent study group could shed light on both the outdated science and the conflicts of interest within organized dentistry that keep this misguided practice in place.
Only two votes are needed to set such a task force in motion. I urge you to do the right thing. Thank you.
DR. MERCOLA INTERVIEWS FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK'S PAUL CONNETT.- AND HIGHLIGHTS AUSTIN ACTIVISM!
The battle against water fluoridation received a giant boost a few days ago when noted medical journalist Dr. Joseph Mercola officially threw his weight behind efforts to end the practice in the United States and Canada. Mercola, who has frequently written columns highly critical of fluoride in the past, launched his entrance into the fray with a 42-minute video interview with Dr. Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network. The video, which has already received hundreds of thousands of Internet hits, both makes the case against fluoride and showcases three centers of productive activism. Those centers are the state of Ontario in Canada and, in the United States, the cities of San Diego and Austin.
We are honored to be singled out in this manner, alongside two movements that have been at it much longer than we have. Mercola cited in Austin's favor both leadership and media support. Fluoride Free Austin has multiple leaders, and the flow of creative ideas from all sides has been outstandng, as has our steady step-by-step progress on a shoestring budget. As to media support: we have managed to do quite well, thank you, despite the local corporate daily's adamant refusal to acknowledge our existence. The city's own Channel 6 TV has proved invaluable in spreading our message, and coverage by the Austin Chronicle, Daily Texan, freelancer Niamh Marnell and local talk radio and access TV have all contributed enormously.
We have now been placed in the national spotlight as a model for anti-fluoridation activism. We need to set an example of success. And we will.
CHECK OUT THE FLUORIDE POISONING SUPPORT GROUP
I've just become aware of an important resource which had up to now somehow escaped my notice, though it's been in existence for close to eight years. It's the Fluoride Poisoning Support Group, a Yahoo bulletin board with a rich collection of archives dating back to November 2002. Although billed strictly as a support group for fluoride poisining sufferers it is, like most newsgroups, a repository for all manner of .useful information. A random romp through the archives, for example, turned up the following post regarding the fight against water fluoridation in Skagit County (Bellingham) Washington;
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They don't care about health, READ ON!!
A group of us have been fighting the addition of fluoridation for 2
years. We have spent alot of time and money trying to convince our
commissioners how dangerous fluoride is and it has all been in vain. We
have, however, completely changed course. We have learned that our
state constitution is our friend, that we live in a Republic, not a
democracy. Democracy is corporate law not constitutional law. The
constitution is supreme law. Our commissioners took an oath to uphold
our state constitution. One of the requirements "prior" to taking
office is completing their oaths and bonds, they did this after taking
office, which is a direct violation of the constitution they swore to
uphold. Our commissioners are not lawfully in office. Go to
www.skagitcleanwater.org, go to the law library, you will be able to
see how we have changed course, you will be able to see the redress of
grievances addressed to the commissioners and how they completely
ignored them, which puts them in default and we are now going after
their bonds. Its time to hold the people that want to poison our water
accountable and put them in the hot seat!
Jo (May 2, 2007)
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What a creative idea! The post is three years old, and the website no longer exists, but I do know that, whatever happened, they won their battle. Bellingham remains unfluoridated today.
This Fluoride Poisoning Support Group is very easy to join if you already have a Yahoo account. If you don't, you can get one (also easy). Check it out.
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FLUORIDE DATE LECTURE #32 - FLUORIDE FREE AUSTIN ASKS CITY COUNCIL SOME EMBARRASSING QUESTIONS
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL: Next speaker is Rae Nadler Olenick. Topic is water fluoridation.
RNO: Good afternoon, mayor and councilmembers and thanks to our supporters for turning out. Over the past year and a half of speaking here I've watched the council engage many citizens communication speakers with questions and/or comments. You've responded directly to people being harassed by neighbors, people whose sleep is disturbed by nighttime construction, people annoyed by the sight of billboards...and just now, to the previous speaker. All worthy issues, certainly. But our careful, well-documented presentation of the arguments against water fluoridation and issues that affect everyone's well-being has been thus far met with silence - and one joke. Today I'm going to do something different. I'm going to ask a few serious questions relevant to our topic which I have been told by staff is allowable. First, last august and again last december the austin environmental board issued a recommendation to council to set up an impartial taskforce to revisit the city's 37-year-old water fluoridation policy. What is the status of that recommendation right now? Can anyone tell me?
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL: : No councilmember has taken action on that.
RNO: Thank you, sir. Second then, exactly what steps would it take to move that same recommendation forward? What is the process?
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL: Two councilmembers can bring it before the council.
RNO: Okay. Well, how does it get discussed? Who brings it up for discussion? How does that happen?
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL When it gets on the agenda it is up for discussion. All this is your time.
RNO: Yes, I know that. Third, who has the duty to inform new Austin parents that the CDC and the American Dental Association have issued a warning against using fluoridated water to mix baby formula and juices and other drinks?
[ Applause ]
RNO: OK...
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL: Nobody has the answer to that question.
RNO: Right, no one has the answer. The record will show no response to that one. And finally, -- and this is an appropriate question because we are receiving mass medication, as everyone agrees who promotes fluoride, so I would like to know who among you uses unfiltered tap water as your primary source of drinking and cooking water? Any volunteers?
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL: Apparently not.
RNO: OK...OK. Thank you. Thank you very much.
(councilmember Spelman gingerly half-raises a hand)
MAYOR LEFFINGWELL: Thank you.
[ Applause ]
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