A QUIET VICTORY IN CANTON

Dear CTM members,

I was waiting to share this story with you until the right moment. I think the right moment is now. We are no longer having to drink fluoridated water in our little village of Canton, New York State.

Last summer the director of Public Water Department, Mr Bill Hamilton, who has been opposed to fluoridation for over 20 years, and has tried to educate each incoming mayor and Village Board on this issue, finally took the bull by the horns and stopped adding fluoride to the water this past summer. The move was precipitated by a shift to a different water supply which made the old delivery equipment unsafe to use.

When we heard the news - Bill let the Village Board know in writing -we held our breath. We were expecting the Dental community to be up in arms. But they have done nothing publicly. We believe we know why. If they had insisted that the fluoride be put back, it would have forced a debate on the issue. They are not about to debate this issue with me, or anyone else for that matter (Dr. Hardy Limeback has also agreed to debate them if they so choose).

So the months have quietly slipped by and it has been wonderful to drink water from the tap again instead of out of plastic. While, I am disappointed I didn't get to debate the dentists here, it is nice being in the "status quo" position. It is they who now have to take the initiative. If they do it will be wonderful to have the debate so close to home. Meanwhile, we are starting to make contacts in local fluoridated towns to see if we can capitalize on our quiet victory here.

The thing to be learned from this is that some of our strongest allies in this struggle for common sense, are the very people who have to add this wretched poison to our water. Many of them do not want to do this. It is not what they thought this public service was about. If you haven't done so already pay a visit to your local public water engineer and discuss the issue with him or her. Make sure they have our web page address http://www.fluoridealert.org and see if they also want to receive these bulletins (confidentially of course!).

Paul Connett

IFIN BULLETIN #446: Victories.

January 27, 2002.

Dear All,

2002 is already looking a very encouraging year as far as the rejection of fluoridation is concerned. While I have been away I see there have been victories against fluoridation in Kennewick, Washington; Lanai, Hawaii and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Details on the Colorado Springs victory are given below. Details on the other two victories can be obtained from the FAN web page at http://www.fluoridealert.org

I would also put into the victory column the fact that both Fort Collins, Colorado and the State legislature in New Hampshire have voted to set up committees to review the fluoridation issue. I will be discussing the New Hampshire situation in the next IFIN bulletin. Assuming that these reviews are conducted by independent scientists, we can anticipate more victories to follow.

The following notes are taken from the FAN web page.

Paul Connett.

Fluoride Action Network

Colorado Springs City Council Votes No to Fluoridation

Note from FAN - 1.17.02:

Following close upon the heels of decisions by Kennewick, Washington; Bennington, Vermont; Lanai, Hawaii; Cobalt, Ontario; and Erie, Colorado not to fluoridate water, the Colorado Springs City Council ended a year long controversy by voting against fluoridation (see below).

The Colorado Springs decision also follows upon the heels of recent referendums in November 2001, where voters from Flagstaff, Arizona; Modesto, California; Sutherlin, Oregon; and Worcester, Massachusetts voted against fluoridation in their respective cities.

(To see a list of other communities which have recently rejected fluoridation, visit www.fluoridealert.org/communities.htm )
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Colorado Springs Gazette

January 17, 2002

Fluoride gets the Brush Off:
Council votes 5-3 against adding chemical to city's drinking water

By Tom Ragan The Gazette

Colorado Springs residents will have to rely on the old-fashioned method of getting extra fluoride: brushing with fluoride toothpaste.

That's because the city, after nine months of sometimes acrimonious debate, has decided not to add fluoride to drinking water.

The Colorado Springs City Council, acting as the Utilities board, voted 5-3 after another public hearing Wednesday to reject a proposal to add hydrofluosilicic acid to two-thirds of the city's water - a move that would have fluoridated the water on the northeast side of the city.

Water in the remainder of the city is naturally fluoridated.

Utilities board members said they still aren't certain the acid is safe. Some said they didn't think it was government's role to dabble in public health.

Local dentists have been pushing for fluoridation for years. In 1999, they told the Utilities board that cavities and tooth decay were more prevalent in the northeast section of the city, where the water is not fluoridated.

In mid-April, the board was ready to give the fluoridation program the green light.

But that's when a group of concerned citizens showed up to protest, saying the acid was unsafe.

The group, It's Not Fluoride Only, cited numerous studies, including one from Dartmouth University, that showed hydrofluosilicic acid raised the level of lead in the blood when consumed in water.

The Utilities board decided to study the matter further. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was called numerous times for its opinion.

Though opponents refer to the acid as an industrial waste byproduct that comes directly from the phosphate fertilizer industry, the CDC said the acid is safe once it breaks down in water.

At Wednesday's public hearing, perhaps the most emotional testimony came from 41-year-old Carol Geltemeyer, a Colorado Springs woman who was two months pregnant and approached the public hearing podium with her 2-year-old daughter in her arms.

"If you do this, I'm going to have to go out and buy bottled water," Geltemeyer said. "Leave it up to the parents. Leave it up to us. If you take away our choice, you're taking away our responsibilities."

Councilman Ted Eastburn, who voted in favor of fluoridation, said he found it hard to believe that some Utilities board members failed to place their trust in the CDC.

"It's the same agency we're turning to for help in the threat of bioterrorism," Eastburn said, moments before he cast his vote.

But Richard Skorman said he voted against the measure because conflicting studies and conflicting evidence prevented him from conscientiously voting in favor of fluoridation.

"It's not that I'm convinced that it's dangerous," he said. "I'm not, but it makes me nervous."

Councilwoman Margaret Radford said if there had been no other method by which Springs residents could obtain fluoride, she probably would have "caved in" and voted in favor of the measure.

Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace, who voted in favor of fluoridation, scolded the anti-fluoride people for breeding hysteria when passing out petitions.

"They talked about it in terms of 'poison' and 'toxic waste,'" she said. "The emotionalism got ahead of the data."

The decision was made in a matter of minutes after nearly three hours of testimony by both sides. Other board members who voted against fluoridation were Charles Wingate, Sallie Clark and Judy Noyes. Lionel Rivera voted in favor of it. James Null was not present.

106 JUST SAY NO

Ninety percent of utilities companies across the country that fluoridate their water use the liquid or powder form of hydrofluosilicic acid. More than 100 million U.S. citizens from San
Francisco to Seattle to Florida to Maine have been drinking it for the past five decades.

With this decision on Wednesday, Colorado Springs now becomes the 106th city in the United States since 1990 to halt or reject fluoridating its water.

CTM Comment: Professor Connett is a tireless campaigner for clean, non-toxic water in the USA and his web-site is excellent. If you currently reside in America and live in a fluoridated area, visit his web-site at www.fluoridealert.org to begin your regional campaign to have the practice stamped out and those who advocate it brought to account. Fluoridation is a human rights abuse and needs to be acted on immediately. If you are a part of an existing campaign to scrap fluoridation in your area, or wish to start one immediately, send your name, area and e-mail details to CTM and we will publish a list of active anti-fluoridation cells in the USA to which other members of CTM can add their support. Let's fix America for clean water, and let's do it together!