By Stuart Cooper
Campaign Director, Fluoride Action Network
The Fluoride Action Network (FAN), along with a coalition of environmental and public health groups has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to their denial of our petition under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) seeking a ban on water fluoridation.
We believe this lawsuit is an unprecedented opportunity to end the practice once and for all in the U.S., and potentially throughout the world, based on the well-documented neurotoxicity of fluoride. You may read the official complaint here. According to FAN’s attorney and adviser, Michael Connett:
“This case will present the first time a court will consider the neurotoxicity of fluoride and the question of whether fluoridation presents an unreasonable risk under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
And, in contrast to most other legal challenges of Agency actions, TSCA gives us the right to get the federal court to consider our evidence ‘de novo’ — meaning federal courts are to conduct their own independent review of the evidence without deference to the EPA’s judgment.”
Industry, legal and environmental observers following the EPA’s implementation of the new TSCA law have pointed out that a lawsuit1challenging the EPA’s denial of our petition would provide a test case for the agency’s interpretation that petitioners must provide a comprehensive analysis of all uses of a chemical in order to seek a restriction on a particular use.
Legal experts have suggested the EPA’s interpretation essentially makes the requirements for gaining Agency action using section 21 petitions impossible to meet, making the outcome significant for all U.S. residents and public health or environmental watchdog groups.
Lawsuit Background: EPA Served With Citizen’s Petition
On November 22, 2016, a coalition including FAN, Food & Water Watch, Organic Consumers Association, American Academy of Environmental Medicine, International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, Moms Against Fluoridation and several individual mothers, filed a petition calling on the EPA to ban the deliberate addition of fluoridating chemicals to the drinking water under provisions in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The petition includes more than 2,500 pages of scientific documentation detailing the risks of water fluoridation to human health.The full petition can be accessed here, a shorter eight-page summary here and our press release here.
We presented the FDA with a large body of human and animal evidence demonstrating that fluoride is a neurotoxin at levels now ingested by many U.S. children and vulnerable populations. We also presented the agency with evidence showing that fluoride has little benefit when swallowed and, accordingly, any risks from exposing people to fluoride chemicals in water are unnecessary.
We believe an impartial judge reviewing this evidence will agree that fluoridation poses an unreasonable risk. On February 27, 2017, the EPA published their response.2 In their decision, the EPA claimed:
“The petition has not set forth a scientifically defensible basis to conclude that any persons have suffered neurotoxic harm as a result of exposure to fluoride in the U.S. through the purposeful addition of fluoridation chemicals to drinking water or otherwise from fluoride exposure in the U.S.”
As many independent scientists now recognize, fluoride is a neurotoxin.3 The question, therefore, is not if fluoride damages the brain, but at what dose. While EPA quibbles with the methodology of some of these studies, to dismiss and ignore these studies in their entirety for methodological imperfections is exceptionally cavalier, particularly given the consistency of the findings and the razor-thin margin between the doses causing harm in these studies and the doses that millions of Americans now receive.
EPA’s own Guidelines for Neurotoxicity Risk Assessment highlights the importance of having a robust margin between the doses of a chemical that cause neurotoxic effects and the doses that humans receive. FAN presented the EPA with over 180 studies showing that fluoride causes neurotoxic harm (e.g., reduced IQ), pointing out that many of these studies found harm at levels within the range, or precariously close to, the levels millions of American children now receive.
Typically, this would be a cause for major concern. But, unfortunately, the EPA has consistently shied away from applying the normal rules of risk assessment to fluoride — and it has unfortunately continued that tradition with its dismissal of our petition.
Fortunately, the TSCA statute provides citizens with the ability to challenge an EPA denial in federal court. For too long, EPA has let politics trump science on the fluoride issue (see examples). FAN welcomes having these issues considered by a federal court, where scientific evidence has a better chance of being weighed objectively.
To accompany our lawsuit, FAN is offering a new DVD and a comprehensive campaign flash drive package. The DVD features the video, “Fluoride and the Brain,” in which Michael Connett explains that fluoride’s ability to lower IQ in children is just the tip of an iceberg of over 300 animal and human studies that indicate that fluoride is neurotoxic.
We have also made a comprehensive collection of campaign and educational videos available on a single flash drive for a limited time. It also includes our EPA petition and supporting documentation. This is a must-have for every fluoride-free campaigner’s toolkit.4 Another must-have is the book “The Case Against Fluoride,” by environmental chemist and toxicologist Paul Connett, Ph.D., which contains a comprehensive science-based argument for the end to artificial water fluoridation.
Winning this lawsuit will require a full team effort, and we want you to feel a part of that team and a part of this moment in history. Please consider playing a larger role in this potentially fluoridation-ending lawsuit by making a tax-deductible contribution.
New Study Quantifies Fluoride’s Potential to Lower IQ in Children
Since submitting our citizen’s petition to the EPA, we have learned even more about the threat to the next generation. Some children in the U.S. may be consuming enough fluoridated water to reach doses of fluoride that have the potential to lower their IQ, according to a research team headed by William Hirzy, Ph.D., a former senior scientist at the EPA who specialized in risk assessment and published an important risk analysis in the journal Fluoride last year.5
Current federal guidelines encourage the addition of fluoride chemicals into water supplies to reach 0.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L). Hirzy followed EPA risk assessment guidelines to report: “The effect of fluoride on IQ is quite large, with a predicted mean 5 IQ point loss when going from a dose of 0.5 mg/F/day to 2.0 mg F/day.”
Many children in the U.S. commonly consume these levels of fluoride within this range from all sources (i.e., water, food, dental products, medicines and air pollution). Hirzy explains the significance of this study:
“The significance of this peer reviewed risk analysis is that it indicates there may be no actual safe level of exposure to fluoride. Groups of children with lower exposures to fluoride were compared with groups having higher exposures. Those with higher exposures performed more poorly on IQ tests than those with lower exposures.
One well-conducted Chinese study indicated that children exposed to 1.4 mg/day had their IQ lowered by 5 IQ points. Current average mean daily intakes among children in the United States are estimated by EPA to range from about 0.80 mg/day to 1.65 mg/day. Fluoride may be similar to lead and mercury in having no threshold below which exposures may be considered safe.”
Dr. Bill Osmunson, FAN’s interim director, noted that this risk analysis adds further weight to the petition submitted to the EPA by FAN and other groups in November to ban the addition of fluoride chemicals to drinking water under provisions in the Toxic Substances Control Act.
FAN’s Persistence Pays Off: US Government Funding Neurotoxicity Studies
FAN progress isn’t limited to the legal world. Our relentless effort to get the U.S. government to take fluoride’s neurotoxicity seriously is also beginning to pay off in other ways. For many years, American regulatory and research agencies have failed to finance studies seeking to reproduce the many studies undertaken abroad that have found harm to the brain (over 300).
When toxicologist and pharmacologist Phyllis Mullenix, et al., published their groundbreaking animal study6 on fluoride and animal behavior in 1995, she was fired from her position as chair of the toxicology department at the Forsythe Dental Center. That sent a chilling message to U.S. researchers — research on fluoride toxicity is a “no-go” area. But that is changing. Now, with the U.S. government funding several important toxicology studies, this should encourage other Western researchers to get involved:
•There is a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded fluoride/brain study.7 Our Canadian friends are extremely excited by this research funding to Christine Till and Ashley Malin, the co-authors of the important study that found a correlation between fluoridation and increased ADHD rates in the U.S.8 This could definitely be one of the most important developments in water fluoridation to date.
•The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is in the process of completing a rodent study using low levels of fluoride exposure. However, we have concerns over the consultation process NTP had prior to when this study was undertaken (see “Vigilance Still Needed” at end of this article).
•Dr. Philippe Grandjean, Harvard School of Public Health, is leading an ongoing study of fluoride and intelligence among a group of schoolchildren in China. Grandjean published the preliminary results of this study in the January-February 2015 issue of Neurotoxicology & Teratology.9
•A National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEHS)-funded human epidemiological study titled “Prenatal and Childhood Exposure to Fluoride and Neurodevelopment” is investigating the relationship between fluoride and IQ among a cohort of children in Mexico. A summary of the study10 is available online.
•An NIEHS-funded animal study, “Effects of Fluoride on Behavior in Genetically Diverse Mouse Models,” is investigating fluoride’s effects on behavior and whether these effects differ based on the genetic strain of the mouse. The principal investigator of the study is Dr. Pamela Den Besten. A summary of her study11 is available online.
•The NIH is funding a study investigating the impact of fluoride on the timing of puberty among children in Mexico. This study is pertinent to the assessment of fluoride’s impact on the pineal gland’s regulation of melatonin. The preliminary results of the study were presented at the 2014 Independent School Entrance Examination ISEE conference and can be accessed online.12
•Though not funded by the U.S. government, Jaqueline Calderón Hernandez, Ph.D., Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Mexico, is currently working with Diana Rocha-Amador, Ph.D., on three studies on fluoride neurotoxicity:
1.An examination of the cognitive effects from fluoride in drinking water
2.Estimating the global burden of disease of mild mental retardation associated with environmental fluoride exposure
3.Investigating the impact of in utero exposure to fluoride (via drinking water) on cognitive development delay in children
Rocha-Amador is also examining the impact of fluoride on thyroid hormone levels in pregnant women, and published a fluoride/IQ study in 2007.13
Vigilance Still Needed
We still have to be vigilant to make sure that those determined to protect the fluoridation program don’t skew the results. For example, it is worrying that the NTP specified that an animal study should be conducted at 0.7 ppm — which is a ridiculous provision for an animal study on fluoride. For example, it is well-known that rats need a much higher dose of fluoride in their water to reach the same plasma levels in humans.
Moreover, it is standard practice in toxicology to use much higher doses in animals to tease out effects. To conduct experiments on animals at expected human doses would require a huge number of animals, which would be cost prohibitive. These studies also raise a significant question for those who continue to promote fluoridation in local communities and legislatures around the world.
“What primary scientific studies (not bogus reviews conducted by pro-fluoridation agencies) can you cite that give you the confidence to ignore or dismiss the evidence that fluoride damages the brain as documented in over 300 animal and human studies (including 50 IQ studies)?”
As shown by its support for these new neurotoxicity studies, our own government has acknowledged the risk fluoride poses to our children. If proponents cannot provide an adequate scientific answer to this question, then fluoridation should be halted immediately, and should under no circumstances be initiated.
National Fluoridation Stats Show Tipping Point Has Been Reached
Progress is also being made on the political front. U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) fluoridation statistics for the U.S. have been released for 2014,14 and they show exactly why the fluoridation lobby has been pouring more money and resources into promoting the practice and fighting our efforts: WE ARE WINNING!
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the percentage of the U.S. population served by community water systems receiving fluoridated water decreased, from 74.6 percent to 74.4 percent. The percentage of the U.S. population receiving optimally fluoridated water (natural and artificial) also decreased, from 67.1 percent to 66.3 percent. Also decreasing:
The number of water systems providing fluoridated water (natural or artificial)
The number of water systems adding fluoride
The number of water systems providing naturally “optimal fluoride” levels
Momentum Continues to Build Thanks to Citizens Like You
More than 460 communities throughout the world have ended existing fluoridation programs or rejected new efforts to fluoridate either by council vote or citizen referendum since 1990. Since January 2016 alone, we’ve confirmed that at least 33 communities with nearly a million collective residents voted to end fluoridation, bringing the number of victories since 2010 to at least 225 communities,15 representing approximately 6.5 million people.
Most of these victories were the result of citizens organizing local campaigns and voicing their opposition to public officials, with many working in coordination with FAN or using our materials to educate their neighbors and local decision makers about the serious health risks associated with the practice. Some of the latest victories in the U.S. and abroad include:16
In the wake of a water utility disaster which involved the Orange Water and Sewer Authority “accidentally” over-fluoridating the public water supply, OWASA is holding a series of meetings to discuss the emergency and hear from concerned citizens regarding the incident. At the first public comment section which took place February 9, the majority of citizens who took time to speak focused narrowly on OWASA’s longstanding public water fluoridation policy and demanded it’s immediate cessation. OWASA had been warned about the dangers as far back as 2012, but persisted in their march to fluoridate leading up to the disaster. OWASA has actually already suspended the public water fluoridation program after the ‘accident’ but then brought in an alleged “Independent Consultant” who was tasked with delivering a report on the infrastructure failures and ways to improve. The consultant is CH2M Hill, which is a multi-billion dollar government trough company with negative revenue who also happens to have a conflict of interest in this matter since they contract with the very same fertilizer companies who produce and sell fluoride across the United States. Not surprisingly, CH2M Hill is being even less critical of the fluoridation policy than OWASA and it seems apparent that the Town of Chapel Hill will continue the policy if the citizens don’t speak up. In the 2nd public comment meeting on this topic, OWASA accomplished the following things;
1) Admitted that Fluoride causes leaching from lead pipes / joints / fixtures
2) Admitted that OWASA is not mandated to fluoridate
3) Admitted by omission that OWASA customers never voted to fluoridate
4) Admitted that there is no barrier between the fluoridation clearwell and the distribution system
5) Admitted that they will allow over-fluoridation in the future as a cost-benefit to prevent having to cut off the water
Dear President Elect Donald J Trump, the Trump family and the new Trump administration,
Congratulations on your momentous landslide victory in the 2016 presidential election. Against all odds your team has out-maneuvered the most powerful and corrupt political and media establishment which has had heretofore an iron grip on the minds of the public. You experienced first hand the collusion, dirty tricks and uniformity of action against a rising populist sentiment in America.
You intimately witnessed how the DC propaganda machine is able to manipulate large swaths of the electorate to believe a false narrative, and I’m sure you have been frustrated by the gullibility of many voters to do so.
Now that you have won the election battle I note that you have quickly begun the transition process and all the ensuing machinations of “assuming office.” Before you know it, your cabinet positions will be filled and you will have to set about fulfilling your campaign promises, which to use your own words is to “make America Great again.”
Surely I know that every brand of politico, lobbyist, industrialist and well meaning citizen are pitching their ideas to you and your team – lord knows there is a lengthy list of things to do in order to begin to reverse course, and everyone seems to have their own ideas about how best to achieve that. From monetary to foreign policy, it is all a great big beautiful mess and you have taken on the unenviable role of trying to fix it.
Easier said than done, I know!
But the key question is, how does one prioritize which issue to tackle first?
As a builder you know well that in any new construction the most important step is to construct a solid foundation first and foremost. The rest of the process is only made possible by having a level and properly supported foundation. In cases of renovation, sometimes you must repair the foundation in order to revive a property that has fallen into disrepair.
Similarly, the outward manifestation of society’s behavioral ethics, intellectual achievement and moral direction as a whole is built upon the foundation of our “group intelligence quotient” which is simply the average intelligence quotient of a civilization’s individual constituents.
One should expect that the more enlightened a society is, the more ethical and constructive they will be.
In business and in life I am sure you have discovered yourself that low IQ is directly related to project delays, corruption, back stabbing, financial mishandling, mistakes, confusion, unnecessary aggression, dishonor and every other negative attribute of human being. This is self evident because any enlightened individual or society with a high intelligence would realize the diminishing returns of such behavior patterns and immediately reorient them for their own self interest.
In light of this revelation, it becomes apparent that your success depends less on your own personal persuasiveness, cunning or intelligence but much more heavily on the reciprocal intelligence level of the rest of the individuals who constitute the civilization you are attempting to uplift.
Consequently in order to effectively and comprehensively deal with such myriad political quandaries one must first address the foundational problems of society (Group IQ), before attempting to fix any of the dependent structures for them to have proper and sustainable support.
Otherwise, the incalcitrant minds of a dumbed down electorate will not be able to properly perceive the truth and will revert back to debased, unengaged, selfish and programmed behavior patterns. Under such psychological conditions the public will still be easy for the corporate media to manipulate and it will be difficult at best to get anything of great magnitude done.
Luckily there is a feasible, remarkably fast and effective way for a new administration such as your own to boost America’s group intelligence from the top-down, which will greatly open the hearts and minds of everyone involved and subsequently accelerate the collective intellectual and emotional evolution needed for you to properly address the major policy issues which have come to characterize American apathy, degeneracy and serfdom in the last few decades.
Coincidentally such a singular fix easily fits into your existing contract with the American voter, under Section 2.7:
SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure.
Source: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contract/
While there are many issues with our water supply and other environmental infrastructure perhaps the most influential on the group IQ of our nation is the well known state health policy of “Public water Fluoridation.”
Over 70% of American municipalities make a regular practice of spending millions of dollars purchasing untested, hazardous waste byproducts of the fertilizer industry and distributing the IQ reducing agent through their public water supply. (See: Harvard study Impact of Fluoride on Neurological Development in Children)
Consequently, America has seen an average intelligence quotient stunted over the same period of time it should have been growing due to improved living standards, which is undoubtedly influenced by this persistent and largely unobstructed policy. (See: Are we becoming more STUPID?)
The amount of value this one policy has destroyed is impossible to evaluate, because it has unquestionably prevented significant economic production including inventions, innovations and interpersonal acumen that we can only imagine but not measure in real terms.
Perhaps more concerning than the deleterious effect of water fluoridation on our average intelligence is the well known problems it causes with our thyroid health. The purpose of your thyroid gland is to make, store, and release thyroid hormones into your blood. These hormones, which are also referred to as T3 (liothyronine) and T4 (levothyroxine), affect almost every cell in your body, and help control your body’s functions (including emotions, reproduction, and intelligence!).
We all know how unbalanced hormones can make people act crazy, and this is precisely what is happening when our society ingests tap water on a regular basis that is laced with the halogen Fluoride. The thyroid absorbs the fluoride, instead of the iodine it needs and is consequently prohibited from serving it’s proper function in the biology of our people. (See: Clinical Studies on Fluoride’s effect on the Thyroid)
Despite the unfortunate fact that most people are still living under the self interested mantra of the state dental lobby that “Water fluoridation is a significant public health achievement,” many of them are nevertheless acutely aware that our water infrastructure is not altogether safe – with the Flint lead crisis and other recent controversies the public temperament towards the public water authorities has never been more open to change.
Fortunately, we can capitalize on the fact that public water fluoridation and overexposure to lead are in fact closely related since the addition of fluorosilicates to the city water infrastructure is admittedly known to have a corrosive effects on brass joints that results in the leeching of lead into the tap water and blood stream of America (See: Effects of fluoridation and disinfection agent combinations on lead leaching from leaded-brass parts.)
With this one issue a Trump administration has the opportunity to do immense foundational repair to the underlying intellectual and bio-physiological deficits which make enlightened thought patterns a scarcity in the halls of government and elsewhere. In my estimation there isn’t a single issue that could more effectively change the overall psychological ether in this country than reversing this long standing attack on the literal operating system of the American people.
Reversing public water fluoridation would immediately result in a softening of our hearts and a sharpening of our minds which would accelerate our opening to enlightened transcendental ideas that can give birth to a new epoch of political, socio-economic and legal reforms.
Here are my specific recommendations on how a Trump administration could maximize their use of the office to influence this situation and change the overall calculus with respect to the state sacrament of public water fluoridation.
Use of the Bully Pulpit: Hold a press conference at the White House and outline the legal, financial, moral, and scientific reasons why the people should demand their municipalities change the policy.
The FDA’s definition of a Drug/Medication is; “articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease” [FD&C Act, sec. 201(g)(1)]. The only stated purpose of public water fluoridation is to PREVENT tooth decay, which is considered a disease of the tooth. Under current FDA law, city council members are therefore criminally liable for continuing public water fluoridation, but no court will ever hear the case because they too are inculcated by the effective fluoridation propaganda of the dental lobbies and misguided state health representatives – the FDA commissioner should put all participating municipalities on notice to come into compliance with the existing FDA laws or face commercial liability for any damages that can be argued in a court. When activist law firms see the opening to make money via class action lawsuits that hold weight, the city councils will come into compliance very quickly.
4. Re-examine the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in the perpetuation of the public water fluoridation scheme.In my two part interview with long time EPA toxicologist and fluoride activist William Hirzy, who blew the whistle and testified before congress on this issue in the early 2000s, he explains how the EPA is responsible for covering up the health dangers in order to maintain the status quo. In my personal experience I have found some cities will rely on the EPA’s allowable environmental fluoride concentration level to suggest that the amount the city adds to the water is therefore safe, but when confronted with scientific evidence to the contrary the EPA says that they don’t regulate municipal water supplies. We need to stop the onion of bureaucracy and inter-agency collusion which leads to a perpetuation of our most pressing problems.
Mr. Trump, if you are for real, then please give consideration to taking these 4 straightforward recommendations to make a monolithic change that will have the largest return on investment of any single tenant in your 100 Day contract with voters.
During the 5th Annual Citizen’s Conference on Fluoride I was fortunate enough to get an exclusive 45 minute discussion with world renowned risk assessor & decades long anti-fluoride activist Dr. William (Bill) Hirzy Ph.D. Hirzy is well known in the anti-fluoride circles thanks to his keystone contributions as a whistleblower from within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters.
Hirzy’s most famous contributions to the anti-fluoride movement came when he was acting as senior vice president of the EPA union of scientists and professionals.
According to Hirzy this union was initially organized to protect EPA staff members from unethical pressure by EPA management. In other words – let them do their jobs as risk assessors, etc. properly! They later became aware of the risks of public water fluoridation & began working within the EPA to try & do something about it.
Dr. William Hirzy Former Risk Assessor at the Environmental Protection Agency
Sad to say that such a union would even be necessary in a government agency who makes such bogus & impossible claims that they protect human health & the environment, but unethical pressure from high ranking bureaucrats is no big surprise to us is it? The union, with Hirzy as spokesman, earlier this century appealed to a Senate subcommittee on the reality of fluoride’s developmental neurotoxicity & its many other latent adverse health effects, which are negatively affecting the entire daydreaming American public as a result of the government’s 60 year old public water fluoridation policy. Dr. Hirzy’s role as risk assessor, is ostensibly to warn the government of possible financial or criminal risk by evaluating certain policies – yet his advices heretofore have fallen on deaf ears! See Hirzy’s powerful statement below, from the Year 2000:
As you hear Dr. Hirzy explain his role as risk assessor, we can easily extrapolate that this union behaved almost like an immune system antibody, deployed within an otherwise healthy system to identify & defend against foreign invaders (unethical pressure aka corruption). That would be the traditional roles of each group anyway, if we believe that the EPA was formed to legitimately protect the environment. But what we see over time is an increasingly politicized federal agency, easily manipulated by rank, paygrades & external organizations, constructed hierarchically with a lack of traditional checks and balances . This has obviously motivated the white hats, who actually wish to perform a legitimate civic duty, to organize to better resist the embedded junta bureaucrats.
In America this Union concept can be considered the “check” on power. What we discover through Bill’s testimony however is that the system itself was corrupt & consequently the tables turned! It was the union who was treated like a virus infecting the EPA with truth & Dr. Hirzy walks us through many of the dirty tricks, administrative shifts & railroading attempts to prevent the truth from getting out. Although a valiant effort, the organization was proven not strong enough as we listen to Dr. Hirzy tacitly admit that it only took veto action by an ever changing & growing administrative landscape within the EPA to thwart the Union, which brings us to where we are today – the same place we were 50 years ago after fluoride was successfully implemented in the first place!
This interview however strays far from the minutia of fluoride politics & instead takes on a more personal character as Bill walks us through his own life experiences waking up to the fluoride deception while embedded within big corporate & governmental giants like Monsanto and the EPA. Unbeknownst to me, Dr. Hirzy had previously been arrested for protesting the construction of nuclear power plants in the midwest. This led not only to his ousting from Monsanto & his eventual hiring at the EPA, but the now famous theoretical physicist Michio Kaku had interestingly come to his defense at this time in the 80’s.
Perhaps even more noteworthy is the clear bias Bill describes within the bureaucracy of the EPA, contrasting it with his experiences at Monsanto which would on occasion express the same pattern of promoting & rewarding those who maintain the status quo while shunning those who challenge it. Bill seems to have had a lifetime of struggles due to his predisposition to tell the truth.
It is especially interesting that Bill’s specialty is in risk assessment which is to determine the amount of financial risk a corporate or governmental entity is exposing themselves to by selling or promoting a particular product/policy. This has obvious implications for Monsanto who’s chemical & genetic productions have the potential for vast profits, accompanied by serious financial risk should a product have an unintended detrimental health effect. Big institutions pay Big money for Bill’s intelligence because the cost of his salary pales in comparison to the potential lawsuits they might otherwise be exposed to.
But the nature of Bill’s work from the perspective of the EPA is even more damning of the EPA as an institution, than compared to a profit driven company like Monsanto, given their charter to actually PROTECT human helath & the environment, accompanied by the fiat regulatory power it is able to wield.
One should definitely question the true motives of said agency when someone like Bill, who is trying to save the EPA’s ass as much as he is trying to alert the public, gets completely ignored.
Hence the EPA have, for more than 10 years now, become criminally negligent by refusing to change the maximum allowable contamination level of water supplies with respect to fluoride, which consequently allows the various agencies under the EPA (Health & Human Services, Water Companies, City Councils, Health Boards, etc) to continue adding toxic waste to the public drinking water without criminal or federal legal repercussions.
Actually this was the essence of the 5th annual citizen’s conference on fluoride which culminated in an official petition to the EPA to answer an amalgamation of groundbreaking fluoride science which was presented to them by Dr. Hirzy & an army of other scientists, medical professionals & concerned citizens.
To understand the gravity of Bill Hirzy’s testimony on the dangers of fluoridation and the dark political manifestations which maintain the policy, one first has to fully grasp the true melange of federal, state & local bureaucracies who stand in the way of common sense, civil rights & the science. Given my own personal experience trying to enlighten local politicians on the
The multi-headed hydra that is big government
dangers we face, and thus end fluoridation, I will attempt to break it down as best as I understand it so that you may comprehend what a monumental task it is just to overcome the bureaucracy & generational indoctrination.
By the end, you may agree that the only way to kill this hydra is to make sure we get all the heads.
First – the buck stops with your local city council. Like it or not ultimately the politicians who hold positions there have seized power & are the ones administering fluoride to the population by way of majority vote. Thus – they have the power to end it. But if you challenge them, they will defer to the water management department or some similar agency who is tasked with repeating propaganda hatched by Edward Bernays & the former Federal Security Agency; now known as the Department of Health and Human Services
The water company will claim that they are only following orders from the state department of health and human services, who in the 20th century were the unapologetic propagandists promoting the mass fluoridation policy in the first place & still claim that it is one of the top 10 public health achievements of the last 100 years. They will deny they are violating any laws because they are not over 4 parts per million, EPA’s maximum contaminate level for that substance set originally in the ironically named “Safe Drinking Water Act“
If you challenge them on the basis that this constitutes forced medication of the drinking water, they claim it is not a drug, it is a mineral/nutrient & they are only “adjusting” the levels to one that is “optimal” for preventing tooth decay. This is based on the junk science produced in the 1930’s which was funded by the aluminum industry to promote fluoridation.
Depending on your geography, the actual levels of fluoride in the groundwater might be quite low, which provides the impetus for city councils to perform a public service by “bringing up” the concentration level of fluoride to one that the public health department claims is “Optimal” for preventing tooth decay. Luckily, there is a long line of fertilizer & aluminum companies who have excess fluoride they need to dispose of. This is how they get away with adding fluoride while simultaneously not taking accountability for the fact that it is adding for medicinal / preventative purposes
When you challenge the public health board that this is illegal & a crime given all science showing such, they will say they are regulated by the EPA’s 4.0ppm Maximum Allowable Contaminant Level & since they are only fluoridating at .7-1.1ppm, no crime committed!
Rinse, Repeat.
Part II:
When asked what is driving these deliberate obfuscations of the truth by the various corporate & governmental structures, Bill responded, “I don’t go there.”
To understand in a comprehensive manner what transpired in the video above one has to first fully understand the background and context of my effort as an individual to end the practice of fluoridating our public water supplies in Durham, North Carolina.
If you have been following this blog you may already be aware of my journeys as a turd through the bowels of Durham’s city government so if you want to skip to the culminating event, Click Here.
In order to put the culminating event in the proper context what follows is a chronologically succinct account of my efforts which all lead up to the rather climactic events from this past Thursday evening.
My Awakening
In December 2011 I was getting dental work done on my back molars when I was inspired to ask the question,
“Is there Fluoride in the drinking water?”
The dentist replied,
“Yes of course!”
I had always heard fluoride was in the drinking water but never quite understood how drinking it would do any good for just my teeth but not affect other parts of my body – so I asked
“Why is it in the drinking water again?”
The simple yet oft repeated response came without surprise,
“It’s good for your dental enamel.”
The problem with this statement is that it is never accompanied by anything more than anecdotal evidence and in my case, the anecdotal evidence was not so supportive of drinking fluoride. You see, I was diagnosed early on with having a defect known as “Dental Fluorosis” which is the literal degradation and deterioration of dental enamel.
This condition is partly responsible for my needing such dramatic dental work done in the first place but more than anything is indicative of fluoride overexposure from the inside out. This means every other organ in my body is also overexposed which bothers me greatly.
Naturally, such a contradiction of circumstances caused me to question the official rhetoric on this topic and lead me to do a great deal of research which is where the real story begins…
Click for Larger View – These are my teeth which are consistent with the scientific literature on patients suffering from dental Fluorosis.
My Dental Xrays which Show Fluorosis and dental decay
My First Appearance
What I uncovered in my research was so startling I began to wonder who I should tell. At first I was simply alarmed at the idea that something in our drinking water would be so dangerous, but at the time was not mentally prepared for the bureaucracy and cognitive dissonance I would later experience when trying to bring this information to everyone’s attention.
In an almost automated emotional reaction to the research I uncovered about public water fluoridation, I appeared for the first time before the Durham City Council on December 20th, 2011. With little forethought I showed up to bluntly present the damning evidence that Fluoride has been shown to reduce IQ, cause skeletal fragility and bone density issues, as well as cause the condition I suffer from – Fluorosis.
The response to my petition came promptly from Mayor Bill Bell which will not surprise anyone who has any experience with corporate government,
Obviously, the suggestion [to remove fluoride] would be a dramatic change from the way we presently operate, I’m sure the manager and his staff will take it under advisement and come back with a recommendation.”
The “manager and his staff” eventually did take it under advisement and came back with the following recommendation:
In response to my statement on December 25, 2011 the following article was published by Ray Gronberg and the local Herald Sun newspaper which broadly dismissed my miniscule effort to raise awareness. The publication of this article only thickened the plot however because in it certain governmental authorities were prompted to respond to my allegations. Their response which inherently must be deceptive became motivation for me to continue exposing their lies. Kevin Buchholtz, a NC Dept. of Health and Human Services stooge who later plays a role in this saga replied to my petition by saying,
From the State’s perspective trying to respond to every allegation regarding fluoride is challenging and counterproductive.”
My Next Move
Having been totally dissatisfied with the City’s response to my petition, I decided to make things a lot more challenging from the ‘state’s perspective’ and created this website in January 2012. Since then DurhamAgainstFluoride.com has served as a media platform to document my effort and spread the word locally and abroad.
The initial publication about my December appearance at city council combined with the creation of this website was enough to grab the attention of some other fluoride activists who reached out and began coaching me on how to be more effective with my efforts. One such activist was Jeff Green, National Director for Citizens for Safe Drinking water who taught me how to tangle with the government on their terms. The result of my discussions with him manifested in My Next Move, which was a formal request for documentation made on March 22, 2012.
According to the strategy the best way to expose the lack of scientific evidence which supports community water fluoridation is to ask for it! Jeff emphasized that since the evidence is on our side, asking for toxicological studies and other documentation will put The Powers That Be on defense, shifting the burden of proof to the city who then must convince us that fluoridation is such a critical public health benefit. The reasoning was that if no documentation existed, the inability to produce it would cause even the most ignorant in government to begin asking questions internally.
So in January-February 2012 I began making phone calls to the water management department in order to procure the documents I knew did not exist. What transpired was a series of dead ends which eventually produced the following, stunning information:
Systematically bleeds the cocktail of pollutants @ .7 parts per/million into our drinking water as a way of disposing the waste
Even more stunning still was the only formal document ever tendered by the water authority which testifies to the safety of Hydrofluorosilicic Acid. This chemical, which has a HAZMAT rating of 8 Corrosive, is admitted in the city’s OWN literature to cause fluorosis and bone density issues as well as having 0 toxicological studies:
AVOID INGESTION
No Toxicological Studies, No Carcinogenicity Ratings!
NO Liability to distributor, NOT regulated!
Dissatisfied with this as evidence of fluoride’s crucial public health benefit, I appeared on March 22, 2012 to make the city council aware of this absence of information and to formally request they produce the necessary toxicological documentation to the citizens. What happened next immediately told me that I was up against forces with far more motivation to continue this policy than I had ever originally anticipated.
In a premeditated nature The Powers That Be deployed NC Department of Health and Human Services goon Kevin Bucholtz who is the West Region Supervisor for the Oral Health Division. He appeared subsequent my formal request for information to rebut a position I did not even argue. I gotta hand it to Kevin – he really impressed me with such a whirlwind of hypocritical dribble. The most amazing thing is that he came with prepared statements and yet, for 4+ minutes, Kevin rambles on about how the NC Department of Health does not agree with the conclusion drawn by millions of citizens around the world that drinking fluoride is of no public benefit. In the next breath Kevin bluntly admits that hydrofluorosilicic acid can leech lead from the plumbing system and is directly responsible for his own daughter suffering from Fluorosis.
Just so we’re clear:
I attend city council to ask for toxicology studies on fluoride
The state sends their best rep – Kevin – who says in one breath Fluoride is a poison
And in the next, it’s good for you and he’s proud of it
How do you argue with that?
This has to be heard to be believed:
Note: This same appearance was later cited on the Durham Water Management Website in Direct Response to my request for information:
After witnessing first hand the inaction of Durham’s City government I began to firmly understand how crippled the humble minds of our “authorities” really were on this subject and all faith in their willingness to reasonably address this issue was lost.
Since The Powers That Be had acted in such a preemptive and precise manner, I was able to discern intuitively that I should simply try in whatever way possible to raise awareness on this issue and to ignore for a little while the illusion that my appearances at city council affected any great change. So I began exploring other avenues and became more committed to educating by any means necessary.
I began to realize at this point that this is a war of consciousness, spanning time and dimensions so I relied increasingly on pure inspiration and intuition to fuel this effort. I felt increasingly that the effort was past-time fun which lead me to take great joy in the further development of this website, printing flyers, meditating, lucid dreaming and speaking about Fluoride whenever appropriate in conversation. These tiny efforts approached as just a part of regular every day life over time are what I credit with sowing the seeds of later success.
On July 12, 2012 I published this report which cites a 1991 study done in Durham where scientists and the water authority collaborated to study the effects of ending water fluoridation. One of the central pillars holding up the Pro-Fluoridationist argument is the fear tactic that if we stop fluoridating, we will see an explosion in dental cavities. The conclusion of the Durham study makes it an incredibly significant one in that it supports the debunking of this very claim.
Later in this report you will hear a precise example of this from our civil servants who state that children will miss more school if we turn fluoride off, due to the rise in dentist visits from the ensuing tooth decay!
It’s this same crazed fear-tactic which has kept fluoridation ongoing for so long and therefore makes the discovery of this study and it’s implications so worth mentioning in isolation.
The most ironic thing is that I was a likely participant of this study, since it was conducted in Durham during my elementary years with children from the public school I attended. Although any evidence is surely lost in time, it is a distinct possibility which I had to consider and therefore motivated me to send my report to hundreds of government/media/academic professionals in the area.
The study itself measured the incisors of over 1800 gradeschool children in Durham and over the course of an 11 month period, the study concluded no rise in Cavities but a decrease in the level of Fluorosis among participants. For convenience I have posted the video from that report below:
During my research I discovered that the Durham City Council takes their policy directives on public health issues from a separate committee – the Durham County Public Health Board. This meant I had attended the “wrong” body of our government originally which at the time seemed to explain my lack of success. Of course, the government will never point you in the right direction so it only took some months and a lot of personal time to uncover this. This phenomenon where council after committee after working group relegate authority to each other is the leitmotif of our government which is constructed like the layers of an onion for the express purpose that you will hopefully go away.
Nevertheless I was informed that the Public Health Board is instrumental in changing Durham’s fluoridation policy since the city council would vote largely based on the recommendations from this board, who is composed of citizen “experts” from different disciplines. From this point on I made it my goal to educate the Durham Public Health Board, and hopefully get through to enough people to at least bring it to a citizen vote.
During this same time I contacted and began working closely with Steve Daniels & ABC news affiliate WTVD Channel 11, who followed me for a few months while they were producing an investigative report on community water fluoridation.
After some conversations with WTVD it was decided that my next formal step was to appear before the Durham Public Health Board and present the same information I had previously brought to the City Council’s attention.
Thanks to my appearance on September 13 and the presence of local media, the Public Health Board began a formal inquiry into the subject and agreed to look further into the evidence. Despite my reservations that this was just another hoop to jump through, I was quick to accept this as a partial victory since at least the subject was being discussed. When you accept this is a battle for awareness discussion no matter how contrived can only be measured as success.
The reaction was overwhelming for me as well as the WTVD crew. I watched Steve Daniel’s facebook receive thousands of likes, hundreds of comments and I was told personally by the Senior Producer that they had never in her time at WTVD experienced such a passionate response to a story they aired. Anchorman Steve Daniels likewise sent me the following e-mail which pointed to a total success:
Corey –
I have been overwhelmed by the response to the story.
You get all the credit for getting the ball rolling on our end. I appreciate your persistence in pushing us toward revisiting the issue.
We are working on another angle for February.
Let’s stay in touch about your efforts.
-Steve
In response to this negative media attention, the Water Management Department immediately created a job posting for a “Senior Public Affairs Specialist” who would be paid more than $65,000/year to actively combat my efforts to expose these basic truths about public water fluoridation.
With the help of WTVD’s report I was immediately put in touch with fluoride activists from around the world. More importantly I was able to network with local activists who also have a passion for this issue. Thus began my cooperation and more formal collaboration with individuals from Wake County & Chapel Hill, resulting in the following reports and the creation of RaleighAgainstFluoride.com:
Building on the momentum almost one month after the publication of WTVD’s report, I appeared again at the Durham Public Health Board to encourage them to stand on the side of social justice in unison against community water fluoridation. This was moments before they adjourned to have a closed-door meeting where they finalized the board’s next steps to address the citizen concerns on public water fluoridation.
On March 14, 2013 Approximately 16 months after my initial appearance at the Durham City Council I found myself before the Durham County Public Health Board a third time in what can only be described as theculminating event. It is my sincere belief that this will serve as a secondary jump point for this effort towards a new, expanded level of awareness for the general public.
Due to the preceding 16 months of work exposing the fluoride deception in my area I was able to force the county health board to formally acknowledge and review this subject which they begrudgingly did in a contrived & organized fashion to simply perpetuate the status quo.
Keeping with the leitmotif of all corporate governments, the Durham county health board relegated their own logical/rational thinking capabilities to another committee of people in the form of an “expert panel.”
To my total lack of surprise, I found that the panel was cherry picked by the City to achieve a self-described “balanced” perspective on this issue. In other words, the 5-person panel were with only one exception uniformly government-paid employees offering only their personal opinion and not any scientific facts whatsoever. Later In this report you may even hear Department of Health Dental Chief Rebecca King actually cite one of her credentials as having been “a supporter of fluoridation.” Can that be put on a resume?
Before the proceedings began I was given 3 minutes to speak and unfortunately was not able to capture video of this. I was unprepared to speak since the health board would not return my phone calls to find out who would be participating on the “expert panel,” so I simply responded in a reactionary way when my time came.
The following is a basic recall of what I stated to the board & the panel who was present:
Hi everyone, my name is Corey Sturmer. For those of you who don’t know me I have been speaking about public water fluoridation here in Durham for a little more than a year now. During that year I have learned a lot about how government works and I hope to continue that today, as I understand we are having a hearing on this important subject known as community water fluoridation.
So to help make this a successful hearing I would like to urge you the board to ask the expert panel the most appropriate questions possible. So I will just go down the list –
Vicki Westbrook vicki.westbrook@durhamnc.gov
Vicki Westbrook – She is the assistant director of the water management department. You should ask her WHERE the water department purchases the fluoride that is added to our water. If she is honest she will have to tell you that Williams Water Treatment Plant buys hydrofluorosilic acid from a fertilizer manufacturer named MOSAIC. Hydrofluorosilicic acid is the byproduct of phosphate manufacturing and the city helps them dispose of it by bleeding it into our water.
So this is an important thing to ask Vicki and I am sure she will tell you this.
Timothy Wright tim_wright@dentistry.unc.edu
Then we have Mr. Tim Wright & Rebecca King who are licensed Dentists. When you are asking them questions be sure to ask if it is in their professional opinion because as a licensed dentist he is not permitted to answer questions about INGESTING fluoride – otherwise he would need to be an internal medicine doctor. Anything else is just his personal opinion and remember, it is not JUST about the teeth since we are drinking the chemical and therefore exposing all of our cells to the effects of it.
I also see on the agenda several public health officials, and I know that the tendency of all city governments is to follow guidance from the public health department. I think it’s important to remember that as much as they may mean well, it is not up to the public health department to decide what goes in our water – that is a decision for ALL of us – You, me and the rest of the citizens. Do not be intimidated by the public health department either because there are dozens and dozens of examples where cities have ignored their state health department to cease fluoridation.
So if one thing could come out of this meeting it should be that we put this to a vote – and let the CITIZENS decide what goes into the public drinking water. It is all of our decision, as health board members, public health officials or citizens living in durham – so we should let the citizens debate the facts and give them the chance to make an informed decision. Thank you.
Setting the Stage for The Big Lie
In order to effectively brainwash the public health board, The Powers That Be carefully selected 5 individuals (4 present) who collectively paint a broad and deceptive enough brush stroke over the subject of water fluoridation so as to tranquilize any inquisitive mind that may see through their ragged arguments.
As if my 3 minute public comment did not ever happen, the chair of the Public Health Board James Miller can be heard below stating that “Anyone who interrupts will be forced to leave” with The Sheriff Deputy waiting patiently in the corner, clearly requested prior to the meeting in case the known antagonist (myself) were to make any public demonstrations of their deception.
This was an obvious way for the city to keep the panel’s opinion sterile, only to be taken in isolation of all external factors – like factual information from me.
As if insulated from the glaring truths of this issue, the self-concocted pro fluoride cheer-squad began their dreadful & irrelevant rambling on the efficacy of public water fluoridation. Using tired old scripts from the Center for Disease Control, Public Health Department, and American Dental Association which have long been debunked on this site and others, these so-called “experts” offered nothing more than anecdotal evidence and circumlocution of the real core issues to do with the illegal medication of our public water supply.
Vicki Westbrook
vicki.westbrook@durhamnc.gov
First up was Vicki Westbrook who was mentioned previously in my speech and is one of the first persons I confronted on this journey. She offered a mostly inert presentation essentially reiterating the very basic facts of what the Water Management Department does.
The Water Management Department is simply complicit with whatever the City Council says, who further take their mandates from other bureaucratic institutions like the Department of Public Health and the City’s own health board. As such, Vicki’s position is more administrative than anything so I would not ever expect her to rock the boat. I did find it interesting however when she states that the City of Durham began fluoridating due to a “Postcard vote in 1957,” which should give everyone pause.
Amy Keyworth
Next was Amy Keyworth who seems like a bright person but was obviously recruited for dubious reasons beyond her narrow perspective. Amy is a hydrogeologist for the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which means she is an expert on the groundwater of North Carolina. As you can see in the video she presents some comprehensive data on natural fluoride concentration levels in North Carolina’s ground water, but does not draw any conclusions herself. Her data taken as a solitary perspective is presented to the board without any elucidation as to how this relates to the issue I am raising – namely – the medication of our public drinking water with hydrofluorosilicic acid! This should demonstrate either the corruption of the board or complete ignorance of those who picked the panel since groundwater has absolutely nothing to do with the mandated distribution of purchased chemicals.
The reason her presentation was totally irrelevant is exposed later in the hearing right before I am escorted out of the building by the sheriff. The key point which my higher self forced me to explain is that it is NOT naturally occurring fluoride that is added to our water supply and therefore groundwater has nothing to do with this issue.
Amazingly this is not even HIDDEN on the Water Management Website yet it was obscured in the very hearing which I worked more than 1 year to produce!
Rebecca King is a Dental Advisor for the NC Department of Health and Human Services (Oral Health Division). If you remember from earlier in this saga it was her colleague Kevin Buchholtz from the same division who originally attempted to rebut me during my March 22, 2012 appearance. I wonder if Kevin was not available for this hearing or he was somewhat intimidated by the e-mail I sent him before my first appearance at the Durham Public Health meeting. The following e-mail went unanswered and I never saw Kevin again, not even once:
To: Kevin.Buchholtz@dhhs.nc.gov
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 9:39 AM
Subject: We Are Coming For You.
Kevin,
Your duplicitous endorsement of Fluoride is going to get you in trouble someday.
To Rebecca’s credit she may have one-uped Kevin with her defense of fluoridation so will be hearing from me likewise very soon. I must admit this was a tall order when it was Kevin Buchholtz who, in his own argument, made a tacit admission that FSA leeches lead from pipe systems and gave his own daughter fluorosis.
Rebecca King’s defense of fluoridation will no doubt be one for the books:
“We drink fluoridated water and the trace levels of fluoride return to the mouth in the saliva where it provides topical protection as teeth are continuously bathed by fluoride-rich saliva.”
In a wide-ranging 7.5 minute stream of complete bullshit, local pediatric dentist Tim Wright makes short work debunking hundreds of scientific studies without providing a solitary shred of evidence other than his own highly fluoridated opinion. His three main factors, “Safety, Effectiveness, & Cost” blatantly ignore the self evident ethical and legal problems with mass medication of the population which I point out in this article pursuant existing Federal Drug Administration Laws. As I expected Tim Wright did not offer his professional opinion, only his personal one, since he is licensed as a dentist and not qualified to answer questions about how drinking Hydrofluorosilicic Acid affects the human body.
I expected very little from Timothy the moment I recognized him on the panel.
First – I always take offense when someone as FAT as Tim Wright lectures me about why I should be forced to drink fluoride when he is clearly so reckless with his own body.
Secondly – It immediately occurred to me that he was the one lone doofus defending fluoride in my WTVD report!
According to my sources most people turned down the opportunity to appear on TV in support of Fluoride but Tim Wright volunteered himself. This leads me to believe he is either monetarily invested in the perpetuation of fluoridation or he has constructed such an identity with fluoride through his misguided academic work that he is willing to defend it in a public forum rather than admit the bitter truth.
Before the meeting began I heard Tim Wright whisper to a colleague, “Are you ready to do battle?” as if he is on some kind of team. Timothy – if you really want to do battle and seem to be so wrapped up in pushing fluoride then you should debate me in a public forum on Water Fluoridation. I don’t even need the pretense of being a dentist in order to deconstruct your silly arguments.
Using sweeping generalizations and vague dictums Tim Wright in a most blanket manner discredits ALLscientific criticisms of fluoride ingestion but later admits that “we know fluoride is hazardous in high levels.”
Well Tim, if this fact is known even by the expert panel chosen to defend fluoridation then it is no surprise that the science of DOSAGE is completely lost on your humble mind.
When considering Fluoridation as a preventative medicine via ingestion the key factor which is incredibly lost on these dense people is not whether Fluoride is equitably delivered to the water…The most important factor is the equitable distribution to our human bodies!!
In decades of academic study has it never occurred to this imbecile that we all will naturally drink more or less water than one another?
These most basic facts are either totally lost on Timothy Wright or he is so blinded by his academic brainwashing that he refuses to see how outdated and discredited his perspective has become. Sooner or later the bitter reality will catch up to Dr. Wright and I hope at that point he will offer a public apology to me and everyone else he taught in his ventures as a professor.
I can tell you that I am already waiting for it.
Laura Gerald
The North Carolina State Director of Public Health was apparently too busy on the 14th to attend and defend fluoridation so I will dedicate very little space debating her vapid and empty written statements. One only has to listen to Rebecca King read the redundant words of Laura Gerald to know instantly which agency’s script is being repeated ad nauseam. Laura’s statements share stunning similarity to Rebecca and Kevin Buchholtz’ testimony so can only be taken as more personal opinions from the peanut gallery. When are these people going to wake up and realize that they are just another person born on the planet like you and me?
I will say that there was a hilarious though pathetic effort made by Director of the Health Board Gayle Harris to use Laura’s African ethnicity as a way to legitimize or somehow overpower past statements made by me in September 2012.
My statements which were referenced previously in this report alluded to civil rights activists Bernice & Alveda King MLK Jr’s Relatives) who condemned community water fluoridation in numerous public statements. If you actually listen to what I say the statements were clearly meant as encouragement to the board to stand on the side of civil rights and social justice, not necessarily because those people were black. By this metric it’s ironically Gayle Harris who is using the race card, whilst reflecting that inner truth on to me by insinuating I made some kind of “assertion” about black people.
Listen below as Health Board Chair Gayle Harris states with pride that Laura is “African American” which somehow must grant her magical powers that make fluoridation a healthy proposition:
The Culminating Event
I did not last very long in the question and answer period. I began to notice some legitimate questions being asked but no legitimate answers being offered in return. I could easily see the deception playing out before me which framed this substance FSA as an inert & natural substance.
The first such question was posed by James Miller, who asked Amy Keyworth if groundwater fluoride was the same substance that is added to Durham’s drinking water.
Her response was that Fluoride is an ion – so therefore it uniformly exists wherever it is found naturally. This might be true in her area of expertise but her lack of contextual information on the policy of water fluoridation is exposed instantly when she and the other experts nods her head “yes” to the question.
The bitter truth which the council hates me repeating is that our city forces each citizen to pay for a Class 8 Corrosive Substance, the waste product filtered off the smoke stacks of phosphate manufacturing, bled at a consistent rate of 1 ppm directly into your drinking water for over 60 years. When one calculates the actual damage done by this practice, it can only be considered a crime against humanity.
The Aftermath
Since I was forced to leave the building and not return, I only had my girlfriend as a mole in the now private health board meeting to capture the event. Unfortunately at the time I was using her phone to record the sheriff escorting me out, so we do not have video or recordings of what ensued after I left. I have decided to dedicate a separate post to recount and detail what happened afterwards according to my girlfriend Charlee’s witness testimony. Stay tuned!
Tuesday March 5, 2013 marked my 7th attempt to encourage the Raleigh City Council to abandon the forced medication of the water supply with hazardous toxic waste products. If one were to obtain and analyze the Certificate of Analysis (fluoride), provided at request by your local water department as required by law, there is an excellent chance that you could trace the chain of custody for the toxic waste added to your water much as I did. In the case of the City of Raleigh the hexafluorosilicic acid, lead, arsenic, and other compounds which are purchased in bulk and added to the water supply under the term “fluoridation,” come from a company, with local offices in Waxhaw, NC, called Key Chemical, Inc. The folks at Key Chemical obtain the toxic waste of PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. PCS Phosphate is the Aurora, NC mining facility/subsidiary of the world’s largest phosphate mining company, Potash Corporation.
While only $173,000 of the multi-billion dollar annual budget of the City of Raleigh is spent on the toxic waste they add to the water, the health effects (if ever properly assessed) could easily exceed the City’s budget. The City of Raleigh hides behind the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control, and other agencies well-known for the open-door policy between themselves and big business. Those agencies, associations, and organizations that support one another in an effort to diminish, undermine, and even ridicule the valid scientific evidence of harm from fluorides conjoin with government to ensure that the toxic waste of megalithic corporations are sold as a product instead of disposed of as a toxic waste. Thus, the City of Raleigh, and any municipality fluoridating the water supply are stewards of big business’s bottom line and not of the health of your teeth. Fluoridation is a criminal scheme that ensures the availability of revenue-generating filtration systems for the toxic waste of companies like, Potash Corporation. The filter is YOU!
When exploring the links between big business and government in regards to toxic waste disposal, one begins to notice the obvious interconnectivity of large-scale initiatives with local government and big business. Locally, here in North Carolina, PCS Phosphate’s mining operation threatens a $1billion per year fishing industry (on the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound). PCS Phosphate has even pushed for and received permission from the North Carolina Division of Water Quality to begin the “largest destruction of wetlands in the state’s history.” That permit is being challenged by the Southern Environmental Law Center http://www.southernenvironment.org/cases/pcs_phosphate_mine . The fact that government would permit such wanton destruction while, simultaneously, claiming to be stewards of the environment is laughable, at best.
Just so we are all up to speed, we have a Raleigh City Council that hides behind the NCDHHS in order to put toxic waste in the water, a phosphate mining company that hides behind the NCDWQ in order to destroy a larger swath of North Carolina’s coastal wetlands than has ever occurred in history, and a foreign company (Potash Corporation) that seems to have the power to make rational people accept these atrocities. Could there be a larger connection?
We are a 21st Century City of Innovation focusing on environmental, cultural and economic sustainability.
We conserve and protect our environmental resources through best practices and cutting edge conservation and stewardship, land use, infrastructure and building technologies.
We welcome growth and diversity through policies and programs that will protect, preserve and enhance Raleigh’s existing neighborhoods, natural amenities, rich history, and cultural and human resources for future generations.
We lead to develop an improved neighborhood quality of life and standard of living for all our citizens.
We work with our universities, colleges, citizens and regional partners to promote emerging technologies, create new job opportunities and cultivate local businesses and entrepreneurs.
We recruit and train a 21st Century staff with the knowledge and skill sets to carry out this mission, through transparent civic engagement and providing the very best customer service to our current citizens in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
One wonders what is sustainable about putting Potash Corporation’s toxic waste in the water produced by the City of Raleigh? This is a question that can only be answered by those advocating or protecting the policy, and as can be seen from the video of myself asking that question, the Raleigh City Council just aren’t talking.
However, the question of why the Raleigh City Council can claim stewardship and protection of the environment as their mission while, simultaneously, dumping toxic waste in the water can be answered simply by reading their Mission Statement and then analyzing their associations.
Potash Corporation and the City of Raleigh are interconnected through the United Nations Agenda 21. After all, Raleigh is a 21st Century City and a member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. Potash Corporation is a member of the Global Mining Initiative, which developed an action plan with the International Institute of Environment and Development. That UN Agenda 21 action plan is to be implemented by the International Council on Mining and Metals. The United Nations Environment Programme International Fertilizer Industry Association publication, “Environmental Aspects of Phosphate and Potash Mining,” makes it quite clear on page 9 http://www.elaw.org/system/files/PotashMining.pdf .
The UN Agenda 21 local action plan is to be implemented through the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), of which the City of Raleigh is a dues paying member and from which, in violation of the Constitution of the United States, the City of Raleigh receives her marching orders in terms of land use, smart growth, urban growth boundaries, and numerous other public policies… including water. Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution makes it illegal for any state or local official to enter any “Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation.” ICLEI’s mandate is “to build an active and committed municipal membership of local spheres of government (local and regional governments and authorities) as well as international, regional, national and sub-national local government associations.” Thus, membership in ICLEI serves as an unconstitutional alliance under Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution.
What could make your local governing body violate the United States Constitution while knowingly poison its citizens? What could make your state government agencies, chartered to protect the environment and resources, allow to occur the largest destruction of coastal wetlands in state history? What could provide the cover for big business and government collusion to proceed unchecked with destruction of the environment and the poisoning of human beings? What could possibly sell all of those absurdities as a legitimate push for environmental consciousness? The fascists at the United Nations, the fascists in business, and the fascists in your local government.
Make your voice heard at the new “My Raleigh Ideas” website where citizens have demanded to stop the medication of their public water supply. Register at the link below and vote this idea up!
The citizens of Raleigh who pay municipal water bills spend more than $100,000 dollars per year on adding medication to the water supply. The “medication” is called Hexafluorosilicic acid, commonly known as Fluoride and has been added to the water supply by majority vote since the 1950′s.
Since that time numerous studies have shown that even moderate levels of exposure to fluoride can lead to lower IQ (Intelligence Quotient), thyroid malfunction, brittle bones, early arthritis, dental fluorosis (white spotting of the teeth), and even cancer.
On July 24, 2012 Harvard released a study in the Federal Government Journal concluding Fluoride lowers IQ. (Source: Reuters) Choi et al write:
“The children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ than those who lived in low fluoride areas,” write Choi et al.
Further, the Environmental Protection Agency says fluoride is a chemical “with substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity” and In 2011 the EPA reversed it’s longstanding claim that public water fluoridation was one of the public health breakthroughs in the 20th century. Then offering advise to municipalities to lower the base amount of fluoride added to their water. (Source)
Do yourself a favor and URGE the City to STOP fluoridating the public water supply! The reasons are very clear:
The City and citizens can save $100,000 per year by not having to purchase the chemical
Citizens will no longer face the risk of suffering Fluoride toxicity, an ailment that can lead to numerous documented medical and neurological disorders
Mothers who feed their baby’s formula will be able to use Tap water without fear of overexposing the children to fluoride
The City can put that 100,000 dollars to something more healthy and beneficial to the population
Medicated Water Supply
DURHAM AGAINST FLUORIDE 