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Dear FAN Supporter:
Two and a half months after the city council in Albuquerque, New Mexico ended the artificial fluoridation of their drinking water for approximately 500,000 residents, the city council in neighboring Santa Fe followed suit. Just last week, councilors voted 6-1 to end fluoridation for the city’s nearly 70,000 residents. The city has been fluoridating its drinking water for almost 60 years, but councilors concluded that it was an outdated practice, a waste of money, and according to the Mayor:
“If we don’t think the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] is a credible scientific organization, then I guess we don’t,” he said. “They say this is a safe level of fluoride and we believe this is just not true.”
Unfortunately, even after fluoridation in Santa Fe was defeated with almost unanimous support from local officials, the local media and local dentists (along with the sole supporting councilor), are questioning the vote and calling for a new one.
If you live in New Mexico, please take a moment to thank Santa Fe City Councilors for taking action against fluoridation.
There was also a big victory in Canada this week, which has heartened fluoridation fighters throughout Ontario and the rest of Canada! On Monday the City Council in Orillia, Ontario voted 7-2 not to fluoridate a city of over 30,000. The local district health unit and the city staff recommended Orillia fluoridate its water, but councilors sided with citizens and decided to “err on the side of caution” by not adding the toxic chemical to their drinking water. According to Councilor Andrew Hill:
“[Fluoridation] really takes away freedom of choice. The majority of people I’ve talked to in my ward do not want it.”
Local campaigners Orillia Citizens Against Fluoridation worked diligently to prevent the practice from being imposed upon them. They offer a good example of what a dedicated group of citizens can accomplish if they take the time to organize a campaign and communicate the risks of fluoridation to local decision makers. Congratulations Orillia!
WICHITA RESIDENTS READY FOR FLUORIDE DEBATE
The national dental lobby is at it again, working to force fluoridation on communities that have opposed the practice in the past. This time their target is Wichita, Kansas, which is among the 10 largest U.S. cities without fluoridation. This past fall a national coalition of fluoridationists launched a campaign to force fluoridation on the city, calling the practice a “no-brainer”; although I doubt they were referring to the 26 studies that show an association of lowered IQ caused by fluoride exposure. When their call for fluoridation was ignored, they decided to find local dentists and health officials to tow the line, creating Wichitans for Healthy Teeth. This pro-fluoride group has been collecting petition signatures from local health care providers who want forced fluoridation, which they plan on presenting to the city council later this summer.
Fortunately, local citizen groups are organizing to keep their water clean, including Wichitans for Pure Water (Facebook page) and Fluoride Free Kansas (Facebook page). Also working in our favor is the fact that support for fluoridation is lacking amongst Wichita City Councilors, and the council has made clear that the issue is not a priority or even a debate they want to deal with again.
If you live in Wichita or in the state of Kansas, please write the Wichita City Council and urge them to ignore the dental lobbies’ efforts to force fluoridation down the throats of local citizens. Please use our website; the Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation film, and the book The Case Against Fluoride (Chelsea Green, 2010) to back up your arguments. Point out that after 19 months proponents of fluoridation have failed to produce a scientific response to this book even though all of the arguments in it are backed up with 80 pages of references to the scientific literature.
Sincerely,
Stuart Cooper
Campaign Manager
Fluoride Action Network