Stuart Water Purity Campaign 2007
What is the Water Purity Campaign?
On Tuesday, January 29th, the City of Stuart is scheduled to vote on whether or not to fluoridate their water. It was recently determined that 2,552 homes that use Stuart City water are located outside city limits, and therefore won't be eligible to vote.
These include homes in Snug Harbor, Cedar Pointe (except Village 8), most of the homes from East Ocean to the Martin County Golf Course, the Banyan House Condos, Conquistador Condos, Riverland, Dela Bahia, Martin County High School, Martin County jail, the Monterey Yacht and Country Club, and Hideaway Lane.
According to City Commissioner Jeff Krauskopf, the response he got from City Attorney Paul Nicoletti when he asked about the people who don’t have a say was, “have them write their name and address [on a piece of paper], sign and date it, and send it in to the city registering if they're for or against it.” (Of course, none of those scraps of paper will actually affect the outcome of the referendum.)
This vote is about the right of people to not to be forced to consume something. Because of this, we are demanding the issue be taken off the ballot.
NEWS: Protest on the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart on Monday, January 28th, from 4-6pm in order to help raise awareness about the impending vote and the dangers of water fluoridation.
ALSO, for those of you interested in the issue, Friday, January 25th will be a Water Purity Group meeting in the Estates (fancy condos) at 11am in Stuart. We can probably arrange to carpool if anyone who's interested lets us know ahead of time.
What's So Bad About Fluoride?
Fluoride is the only chemical added to drinking water for the purpose of medication (to prevent tooth decay). All other treatment chemicals are added to treat the water (to improve the water's quality and safety - which fluoride does not do). This is one of the reasons why 97% of western Europe has chosen fluoride-free water.
Contrary to popular belief, fluoride has minimal benefit when swallowed. According to the Centers for Disease Control, any benefits that come from the use of fluoride come from the direct application of fluoride to the outside of teeth and not from ingestion. There is no need, therefore, to expose all other tissues to fluoride by swallowing it. And indeed, ingesting fluoride poses a number of potential risks:
Fluoride is not recommended for infants. In November of 2006, the American Dental Association (ADA) advised that parents should avoid giving babies fluoridated water. Other dental researchers have made similar recommendations over the past decade.Babies exposed to fluoride are at high risk of developing dental fluorosis - a permanent tooth defect caused by fluoride damaging the cells which form the teeth. Other tissues in the body may also be affected by early-life exposures to fluoride. According to a recent review published in the medical journal The Lancet, fluoride may damage the developing brain, causing learning deficits and other serious problems:
a) According to the National Research Council (NRC), fluoride can damage the brain. Animal studies conducted in the 1990s by EPA scientists found dementia-like effects at the same concentration (1 ppm) used to fluoridate water, while human studies have found adverse effects on IQ at levels as low as 0.9 ppm among children with nutrient deficiencies, and 1.8 ppm among children with adequate nutrient intake.
b) Fluoride also increases frailty of bones. According to the NRC, fluoride can diminish bone strength and increase the risk for bone fracture. While the NRC was unable to determine what level of fluoride is safe for bones, it noted that the best available information suggests that fracture risk may be increased at levels as low 1.5 ppm, which is only slightly higher than the concentration (0.7-1.2 ppm) added to water for fluoridation.c) Animal and human studies – including a recent study from a team of Harvard scientists – have found a connection between fluoride and a serious form of bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in males under the age of 20. Up to half of adolescents who develop osteosarcoma die within a few years of diagnosis.
d) People with kidney disease have a heightened susceptibility to fluoride toxicity. The heightened risk stems from an impaired ability to excrete fluoride from the body. As a result, toxic levels of fluoride can accumulate in the bones, intensify the toxicity of aluminum build-up, and cause or exacerbate a painful bone disease known as renal osteodystrophy.
A plethora of information (including a more complete list of the dangers outlined above) can be found at http://fluoridealert.org/
How You Can Help:
Write a letter to the local newspaper. Writing a letter to your local newspaper is a great way of informing your community of the health and ethical concerns surrounding water fluoridation. Let the readers of your favorite paper know that there is no need to swallow fluoride and that it is oputright dangerous to impose such a toxin on unsuspecting people.
Encourage friends and family to vote in the upcoming election. Direct them to this site, if need be. Tell them to tell others. We CAN and MUST stop this from happening.