Good afternoon, Mayor and councilmembers.  Here's a roundup of local newsbriefs. 

Yesterday, we had a table at the Earth Day Festival in Triangle Park, where we handed out literature and talked to many people; among them a former Austin city council member, a Daily Texan reporter and several dental health professionals.  Most were already on board with abandoning fluoridation, but even those who weren’t proved very open to our message.  Two weeks earlier, we did the same thing at a small health fair in Fredericksburg.  Our public visibility is growing.   

The Fluoride Free Austin Reading Room is ready to become part of our www.fluoridefreeaustin.com website any day now.  This powerful collection of weblinks—from archival material to the latest in scientific research—will place a complete education at the fingertips of anyone wanting to really delve into the subject.

We who come here week after week speak not for ourselves alone but for a large constituency who don’t have the scheduling flexibility we have.  The tide is turning and people are waking up..  I talk to them and hear from them by email daily. 

Here’s a sampling of my email from a recent 2-week period::

*A dental hygienist who’s practiced in Austin for 30 years has written a book on oral health.  This formerly staunch supporter of fluoride changed her mind 180 degrees during the course of researching her book, and she has devoted 14 pages to fluoride toxicity.  For those interested, the title is Mouth Matters and Book People carries it. 

*A young Austin man called my attention to the fact that Marble Falls quietly killed its water fluoridation program a couple of years ago. That brings to three the number of Texas towns rejecting fluoride within the last three years:  the other two are Elgin and Alamo Heights. 

*Another Austin man who’s starting an organic compost business contacted me to discuss how we could work together.

A San Antonio activist also got in touch.  Yes, there’s a big push against fluoride in our neighbor down the road.. I could go if I had more time.  Thank you.