An email I sent to Sonoma County on December 4th:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am appalled that in this day and age, when scientific research has linked fluoridation to health problems, our county would propose such a thing and then proceed to waste our tax dollars on environmental impact studies. Fluoridation of drinking water, along with the 99% of water consumed for purposes other than drinking, does not improve human health, so there is no good reason to do it. Therefore, an environmental impact statement should be irrelevant.
My dentist says that fluoride is a poison and so does this January 2014 study, for example:
“A comparative study of fluoride ingestion levels, serum thyroid hormone & TSH level derangements, dental fluorosis status among school children from endemic and non-endemic fluorosis areas”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890436/When I was a young child, I lived in an area where the water was not fluoridated. However, I ate my fluoride toothpaste. How can anyone claim to know a safe fluoridation level for a county-wide population? You can calculate an average exposure for the population, but you have no way to control the optimal exposure for each individual. When you dump fluoride in my drinking water, you are diminishing my options for optimizing my own health.
People who want to eat fluoride can take fluoride tablets (or swallow their toothpaste). If the county wishes to make fluoride tablets freely available to low-income people (or toothpaste, which might be a better idea anyway), the only issue then is one of adequate education and monitoring for the sake of the health of those people. If they want to participate, then they can, regardless of income. To force fluoridation upon everyone is unconscionable.
Furthermore, fluoride consumption is a medical issue. Doctors and dentists should recommend or prescribe fluoridation to their patients on a case-by-case basis (if they deem it justified), after reviewing potentially relevant factors such as thyroid and kidney function and levels of fluoride already in the body. The county should not be in the business of delivering potentially toxic substances to its residents, especially not in this blind, county-wide fashion.
Sincerely,
Margaret Blauvelt
Cloverdale
I had just learned that Sonoma County was debating water fluoridation when I read, Fluoride vs. Fish: Sonoma County Health Dept’s EIR Report.
More information about fluoride and health is at:
- PubMed (search “fluoride” and “thyroid” together, for example).
- Fluoride-Free Sonoma County.
- The County’s Fluoridation Advisory Committee website.