I’m here to talk about water fluoridation, a subject that merits revisiting. 

It’s been 36 years since the City Council voted to fluoridate Austin’s drinking water.  The action was taken in September 1972 following a lightly-attended voters’ referendum which showed 16,964 in favor and 12,687 opposed. 

Just a little over 4,000 votes—that’s six-tenths of one percent of our current population—determined an outcome that 100% of us live with today.  That was the decision to add a highly toxic substance to our drinking water supply in the name of dental health.  

A search of the City Council meetings database brings up relatively few references to fluoridation, meaning voters were probably not widely aware or informed on the issue back in 1972.  In the seven and a half years between the first pro-fluoridation proposal in 1965 and the referendum, the records show just one public hearing—in 1967.  The only other serious discussion took place at an August 1971 meeting.  Then, a whole year later, the subject  resurfaces, along comes a referendum, and suddenly we have fluoridation. 

It’s time to reconsider that well-meant but misguided decision in the light of fuller knowledge.  My purpose is to educate you, three minutes at a time, about the realities of fluoride—including the historic process by which a dangerous toxin was re-branded as a health product.

All this may be hard to take in at first.  The American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, the CDC, the EPA, and, probably, your family dentist all endorse fluoridation.  Every dental school in the United States has taught since the 1950’s that fluoride is a safe, effective cavity-fighter, so most dentists practicing here today were trained in that tradition.  To question the conventional wisdom is considered downright—weird.

Luckily, we Austinites pride ourselves on being weird; we even boast about it on T-shirts and bumper stickers. So my challenge to you is:  Dare to be weird.  Question fluoridation.  It’s vital to be informed—for the sake of your own health and that of your children.  And I hope you’ll give serious consideration to the information I’ll be bringing out in the weeks to come.  Thank you.