MOVING FORWARD AFTER MEASURE P
HEALDSBURG FLUORIDATION MORATORIUM INITIATIVE
HEALDSBURG: NOTHING BUT QUESTIONS
2014 BALLOT MEASURE P PASSED – HEALDSBURG VOTERS CHOSE TO KEEP FLUORIDATION. WHY IS FLUORIDE-FREE HEALDSBURG STILL ACTIVE?
In this exchange (Letters, The Press Democrat, 12/9/2014 and 12/14/2014), a related question is posed and answered:
QUESTION: The real agenda
EDITOR: A question for Dawna Gallagher-Stroeh, who was quoted in the Dec. 2 article about fluoridation (“Making a Case For Fluoridation”): If her “first and foremost concern that this would impose something on people with-out their choice,” then why isn’t she honoring the choice made by the people of Healdsburg by a large margin in the recent election to continue adding fluoride to our water? Clearly, giving people a choice isn’t her first and foremost concern. Rather, it is her agenda, which is to try again to have fluoride removed from Healdsburg’s water and to prevent it from being added to Sonoma County water… Laura Beach, Healdsburg
ANSWER: Our civil rights v. tyranny of the majority
EDITOR: …It’s worth remembering that our founding fathers worked hard to avoid a tyranny of the majority. Civil rights should never be subject to majority vote. Fluoride-Free Healdsburg, Gallagher-Stroeh and other concerned citizens are engaging in an ongoing democratic process to secure their civil rights, in this case their right to reject medication without consent, without dose control and without consideration of individual needs and vulnerabilities. Their concern — their “agenda” as Beach characterizes it — is reasonable and honorable. We can choose fluoride for ourselves, in our toothpaste or from our dentists, but individual choice isn’t possible with fluoride in our water. Carol Goodwin Blick, Rohnert Park
HEALDSBURG RESIDENTS ARE LEARNING ABOUT FLUORIDATION:
During Fluoride-Free Healdsburg’s outreach during the Measure P Campaign, volunteers were surprised to learn that many Healdsburg residents didn’t know that they have been drinking fluoridated tapwater, or that Healdsburg water has been fluoridated for over 60 years. In unintentional irony, some Healdsburg residents told volunteers they hoped that if Healdsburg water were fluoridated, it would cure their children’s cavities.
60 YEARS AGO WE DIDN’T HAVE THE FACTS
Back then, few were concerned about risks to children from lead or second-hand smoke. In the same way, in 1952 most people thought drinking fluoridated water would reduce tooth decay with no risk beyond a few children with discolored teeth.
Since Fluoride-Free Healdsburg’s outreach, many more Healdsburg residents have learned about the unregulated toxic contaminants in all water fluoridation chemicals. Now they know that drinking water fluoridation is a very risky practice that does NOT prevent cavities.
More and more Healdsburg residents are coming to understand that we should be allowed to decide for ourselves about ingesting fluoride.
All volunteer Fluoride-Free Healdsburg continues its educational outreach. Our third of the vote might not have been enough to win fluoride-free water, but it’s a sturdy base on which to build.
The Voter Initiative and Ballot Measure P are first steps toward an aware community and a fluoride-free Healdsburg.
You are the only person who should have the right to decide whether or not you use fluoride.
ELEVEN REASONS FOR A FLUORIDE-FREE HEALDSBURG
1. Healdsburg has fluoridated municipal water for over 60 years. Two generations of residents have had no choice.
2. Fluoride is not a nutrient. Since there is no function of the human body requiring fluoride, the optimal amount of fluoride in the human body is zero. Also, fluoridated toothpaste sold in the United States carries an FDA-mandated poison-warning label against swallowing it.
3. Fluoridation does not prevent tooth decay. World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that most Western countries do not have fluoridated water, yet their tooth decay rates have declined at the same rates as the U.S. and other fluoridated countries.
4. The CDC reports that 41% of American adolescents have visible dental fluorosis (marks on teeth caused by drinking fluoridated water while teeth are forming), compared with the 10% that Public Health authorities in 1950 considered an acceptable side effect when determining fluoride concentration for fluoridated water. The rising rate of dental fluorosis is evidence that U.S. children are overfluoridated from all sources, including from fluoridated water and foods prepared with fluoridated water, like soups, juice drinks and sodas, fluoride fertilizers on food crops, and fluoridated dental care products.
5. Even though Healdsburg’s improved tertiary treatment plant is probably the best in the county, it does not remove fluoride. A recent Healdsburg City Council proposal to use reclaimed wastewater for agricultural purposes will increase the amount of fluoride in locally produced food and wine.
6. In 2008, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) withdrew its former support of fluoridation because of overwhelming evidence of increased susceptibility, in diabetics and others with impaired kidney function, to kidney damage from fluoridated water.
7. Among many other serious, scientifically documented health risks to vulnerable populations, ingested fluoride is an endocrine disruptor, affecting metabolism, including lowering thyroid production, and lowering IQ.
8. Water fluoridation chemicals, including sodium fluoride, are not food-quality, and not approved for human ingestion by the U.S. FDA. Since the FDA classifies fluoride as a drug, water fluoridation is essentially forced medication, violating medical ethics and our civil rights, since it is administered without regard to individual dose toleration, and without informed individual consent.
9. Those of African-American and Latin-American descent are vulnerable to side-effects of fluoride at a much higher rate than Caucasians. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued a statement opposing forced medication through water fluoridation (2011).
10. Since Healdsburg’s municipal water district has fewer than 10,000 connections, it does not fall under California’s AB733 (1995) fluoridation mandate. The vote of Healdsburg residents would be final.
11. We are at a time of uncertain water supply. It makes sense to insure that our scarce water resources are as clean as possible.
Visit FluorideFreeHBG.org
~~~
EL AGUA POTABLE ESTÁ LIBRE DE FLUOR
ONCE RAZONES
Permitan a los ciudadanos de Healdsburg a aplicar al Principio de la Precaución, si hay duda, déjarlo fuera.
1. Healdsburg ha tenido agua con fluoruro por más de 60 años. Dos generaciones de residentes han pasado sin alguna otra opción.
2. El fluoruro no es un nutriente. No hay entonces razón para que el cuerpo humano lo requiera. La cantidad optima de flururo en el cuerpo humano es de 0.
La pasta dental con fluoruro que se vende en los Estados Unidos lleva una etiqueta de advertencia por la FDA de precaución porque ingerirlo es venenoso.
3. El fluoruro no previene la carie dental. WHO, La Organización Mundial de la Salud muestra que la mayoría de los países occidentals no tienen agua fluorada, y aún así, el nivel de caries ha bajado al mismo tiempo que el de los Estados Unidos junto con otros países que lo usan también.
4. El CDC informa que e l 41% de los adolescentes norteamericanos tienen una notoria fluorosis (marcas en los dientes causadas por la ingestión del agua fluorada mientras están en el período de formación) comparado con el 10% que las autoridades de la Salud Pública en 1950 consideraba un efecto lateral aceptable cuando se determinaba la concentración de fluoruro en el agua. La tasa más elevada de fluorosis dental es una evidencia de que los niños de los Estados Unidos están sobre fluorados por todos lados, incluso a causa del agua y comidas prepaadas con agua fluorada, como sopas, jugos y sodas, fertilizantes con fluoruro en las cosechas que son alimento y en productos para la higiene dental.
5. Aún cuando la planta de tratamiento de Healdsburg es probablemente la major del condado, no quita el fluoruro. Una reciente propuesta del Consejo de utilizar agua desperdiciada para la agricultura incrementará la cantidad de fluoruro en los alimentos y en el vino que ahí se producen.
6. En 2008, La Fundación Nacional del Riñón (NKF) retiró su apoyo inicial a causa de una evidencia indiscutible de un incremento de diabéticos y otros pacientes con irreglaridades en los riñones y con daños en el riñón a causa del agua con fluoruro
7. Entre otros riesgos de la salud para personas vulnerables, científicamente documentados, la ingestión de fluoruro causa daños en el sistema endocrino, afecta el metabolismo, incluyendo la disminución de la producción de la glándula tiróides y del IQ.
8. La fluoración contiene químicos como fluoruro de sodio, no dan calidad al alimento y no están aprobados para su ingestión por la FDA de Estados Unidos. Como la FDA clasifica el fluoruro como droga, la fluoración forza al medicamento, violando la ética médica y nuestros derechos civiles, porque es administrada sin consideración a la tolerancia de la dósis y sin el consentimiento del individuo.
9. Los descendientes de Afro-Americanos y los Latinos Americanos son vulnerables a los efectos laterals de la fluoración mucho más que los Caucásicos. La Liga de Ciudadanos Latinos Unidos (LULAC) expidió un documento oponiéndose a la medicación forzada a través de la fluoración (2011)
10. Como el agua municipal del distrito de Healdsburg tiene menos de 10,000 conexiones, no le afecta la ley AB733 de California (1995) sobre la fluoración. El voto de los residentes de Healdsburg sería definitivo.
11. Estamos en un tiempo de abastecimiento de agua incierto. Tiene sentido asegurar que los escasos recursos de agua con los que contamos estén limpios.
FluorideFreeHBG.org
Traducción de Edith Garciduenas