Top photo, staffers at Hixson Utility District raise a flag prior to a December 2016 board meeting at which utility overseers declared support for use of fluoride, a government-approved industrial waste additive in otherwise potable drinking water. (Photo David Tulis)
Boosters of clean water in Tennessee are citing the work of a courageous board in North Hamilton County in getting ride of hydrofluorocilic acid for residents and Soddy-Daisy and other towns and encouraging action in the general assembly against the widely tolerated toxic waste material. In 2016 the North West Utility District got rid of the corrosive additive linked to neurological problems and a host of complaints.
Fluoridation is a voluntary act of mass medication by groups such as Hixson Utility District, whose board persists in the confidence that it toughens the tooth enamel of small children.
By Karyn French
Several cities in Tennessee are considering removal of the fluoridation chemicals in the drinking water and three Tennessee water supply systems have chosen to stop adding the contaminants in the last 12 months.
The citizens of Tennessee and many water supply system managers know the addition of fluoridation chemicals to the public water supply is unethical, ineffective and inefficient.
The Tennessee Coalition for Safe Drinking Water is requesting you please consider scrutinizing the practice of community water fluoridation over the next few months so you can better understand the harms it creates for the environment and for the citizens of Tennessee.
Fluoride is of no benefit to water treatment. Fluoride is intended to treat or prevent tooth disease in the human. A medical initiative should be under the oversight of a medical professional, not the water treatment operator.
There is NO Federal law, NO TN state law and rarely a local law mandates the practice in our state where Fluoridation Chemicals are required in our drinking water. The TN Department of Health encourages it and TDEC monitors it. Public Water Fluoridation is purely a voluntary decision by local water districts, a decision often made years ago, before many of the current risks were identified. Current Water Boards are not responsible for initiating this outdated policy but many are taking the responsibility to revisit the policy and remove the one chemical not intended to make the water clean.
The CDC, Oral Health Division, touts of 70 years of research showing the safety and effectiveness of Community Water Fluoridation. That CDC Oral Health Division is made up of mostly dentists, all of whom are members of the ADA. Of note: The ADA is a trade organization and does not sponsor scientific research. The ADA has long been an advocate for artificial fluoridation based on improperly controlled studies beginning in Grand Rapids, MI., and with H. Trendley Dean (who later refuted his own studies under oath).
Hixson water utility injects risky chemical to save parents trip to Walgreens
Water is a commodity we have accepted from our tap as clean and safe. No Tennessean should have to seek alternate drinking water for ingestion because their tap water contains a substance intended to treat or prevent disease, especially those people who may have medical contraindications. Violating the right to informed consent/choice goes directly against our liberty and is in direct contradiction to the most basic tenet of medical practice, “Above all else, Do No Harm”. The treatment of the individual through the municipal water system is contrary to all principals of modern pharmacology and medical standards of care that mandate dose control and monitoring of the patient for adverse reactions to drugs.
Only 1%of municipal water is ingested in the household. Ninety-nine percent of all fluoridated water goes down the drain through toilets, showers, laundry, gardens, lawns, car washes, etc. Even the 1 percent that’s swallowed is ineffective.
The NIH-funded Iowa Study (the most comprehensive ongoing review) found fluoridation’s benefits “are mostly topical (not swallowed). . . recommending an ‘optimal’ fluoride intake is problematic.”
Even CDC acknowledged fluoride’s “actions are primarily topical for both adults and children.” According to World Health Organization data, fluoridated and non-fluoridated nations have essentially the same cavity rates.
In 2015, the Cochrane Report, (the gold standard for evaluating effectiveness) found virtually all studies supporting fluoridation were at high risk of bias and not high quality studies.
We are not challenging what a dentist does in his clinical practice but only the practice of injecting a chemical contaminant into our municipal drinking water, intended solely to treat an individual’s teeth without consideration to the overall health of each individual consumer.
Water fluoridation is *** an outdated policy based on misguided information, instituted under the influence of false scientific information.
Karyn French is a nurse and member of the Tennessee Coalition for Safe Drinking Water.
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