Traditional Eating

Water Fluoridation

Most of the municipal water supply in Marin County, CA is still being fluoridated.  The fluoride that is put into our water supply is hydrofluorosilicic acid.  It is provided by a company called Lucier Chemicals.  They get this hydrofluorosilicic acid from a company called Mosaic which is primarily owned by Cargill.  The hydrofluorosilicic acid is a toxic waste byproduct from Cargill’s and Mosaic’s phosphate fertilizer manufacturing business.  It has also been know to contain trace amounts of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, sulfates, radon and uranium.  The use of this waste byproduct in our drinking water is a very cost efficient way for Cargill and Mosaic to dispose of their toxic waste. 

According to the Federal Safe Water Drinking Act, “Federal agencies are forbidden from endorsing, supporting, requiring or funding the practice of adding chemicals to the water supply other than for the purposes of water purification.”  The mandate to fluoridate our water comes from the State level.  However, the State mandate goes against Federal law.  Towns, cities and communities around the state of California and the country are taking it upon themselves to ban the fluoridation of their water supplies.  This is a chemical and a drug and a State does not have the right to mandate that we put it into our bodies.  This is against our basic human rights and it is actually forced mass medication.  The State claims that the purpose of the mandate to put fluoride in our water is because it is good for our teeth!  Cavities are not contagious nor life threatening.  The decision on whether or not to put something as controversial as fluoride into our bodies is the choice of the individual citizens.  If anyone thinks that fluoride is healthy, then they should have the right to ingest it.  However, it should not be forced upon those who do not think fluoride is healthy and do not want to ingest it. 

It is true that you could purchase an expensive reverse osmosis water filter.  However, even if you can afford this, you still live in this community.  Every time you go to a restaurant or deli, or get a cup of coffee, or swim in a community pool, you are exposed to fluoride.  We water our gardens with it and give it to our animals.  It goes into our soils and natural waters.  Our children drink it at their schools.  Fluoride does not evaporate.  Thus, it accumulates in our soils and natural waters.  It also accumulates in our bodies.  Fluoride is a very powerful, dangerous substance.  I think everyone agrees that there is a very fine line between what amount of fluoride is “considered” safe and what is toxic.  Because people get fluoride from so many other sources already, putting it into our water supply is dangerous.  Especially considering it is a chemical and toxic waste byproduct.  Also, different people drink different amounts of water.  History has shown over and over that chemicals once thought to be safe were later found to be very toxic but by then it was too late.  Let people choose for themselves whether or not to consume fluoride.     

Finally, the use of fluoride for preventing tooth decay is based on a faulty understanding of how cavities occur.  Tooth decay happens not because bacteria get on the outside of our teeth and eat away at the dentin and weaken the teeth.  Cavities happen because of a faulty inner ecosystem due to an unhealthy diet.  For example:  sugar does not cause cavities because it gets on your teeth and supposedly provides food for bad bacteria.  Sugar is a dead food.  You could put it on the counter for months and no living organism would touch it.  The reason sugar causes cavities is because when you eat sugar, your body uses up vast amounts of minerals, especially calcium, and other nutrients, in order to deal with the havoc that sugar creates inside your body.  Eventually over time your mineral and nutrient reserves get used up, your blood chemistry becomes acidic, and your body must then leach minerals from your teeth in order to use these minerals in other more important organs throughout the body.  This weakens the teeth and leads to tooth decay.  So the way to prevent cavities is to eat a healthy diet; not to take fluoride.

Most people in Marin County do not even realize our water is fluoridated.  The last time it was voted on was in 1972 and it barely passed, and the vote was tainted by political manipulation and deception.  Dr John Lee, MD was chairman of the Environmental Health Committee at the time.  He strongly advised against the fluoridation of our water and claimed “the pro-fluoridation literature was flimsy and deceptive.”  Furthermore, there has been a substantial amount of literature written since 1972 showing the dangers of fluoridation.   This is about the health of our citizens, our environment, and free choice; and not about politics, money, and big industry.  

One final point, drinking fluoridated water has been linked to hip fractures and other skeletal problems, thyroid disorders, autism, fluorosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s, autism, and other neurological disorders, and much more.

If you would like more information on the dangers of water fluoridation, please refer to:  www.fluoridealert.org and/or read “The Fluoride Deception” by Christopher Bryson.