Good afternoon, Mayor Wynn and Councilmembers.  Last month, I attended the spring meeting, in San Antonio, of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. That’s a group of dentists and others who concern themselves with the toxicology of materials used in dentistry.  Dr. Griffin Cole, an Austin dentist, gave the kickoff speech.   In it, he referenced a recent CSI episode which featured a Death by Toothpaste scenario.  The victim, a former dental technician, is found with two tubes of fluoridated toothpaste in her stomach—four times the amount necessary to do the job.  It turns out to be suicide—presumably a dental tech’s best solution to ending it all.  This is the same stuff we, and our children, willingly put into our mouths twice a day. 

Moving quickly, he then touched the highlights of fluoridation’s long, unsavory history:  the American Dental Association’s shameful 1945 flipflop from denunciation to endorsement; the studies showing its carcinogenic and bone-damaging properties; the reports detailing its utter uselessness for dental protection when ingested; the relentless blackballing of whistleblowers, and much more.  

Of course, there were plenty of technical lectures to attend at the meeting, too.  I took the opportunity to learn more about periodontal disease—a severe, widespread infection of the gums that fluoride never claimed to cure.  In fact, fluoride makes it worse.  . 

I also met many interesting, knowledgeable people, including Jeff Green and Dr. David Kennedy.  They’re co-founders of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, a San Diego, California-based organization that supports local grassroots movements to end fluoridation around the country.  More than 200 communities—including capital cities like Honolulu, Albany NY and Juneau, Alaska—have taken that step since 1990. So the tide is turning.  The group’s website is www.keepersofthewell.com.      

Afterward, I went for a stroll on the River Walk and ran straight into this,


                          

just off the tourist trail.  Here’s the tank.

                         

Isn’t that pipe-to-nowhere mean-looking? Like a snake ready to strike.  Well, that’s all I have time for now.  Thank you.