Residents should have a vote on whether fluoride included in water treatment

Editor:

I have to agree with Andina Barone’s letter to the editor in which towns should seriously look at the health effects of adding Fluoride or (Hydrofluorosilicic Acid) to our water.

There is a reason its scientific name is classified as an acid. Because it is just that. An acid.  During my work in the water treatment industry, I learned many things about Hydrofluorosilicic Acid that was quite concerning.

As we all know using fluoride in dental practice proves quite effective in helping to prevent tooth decay. But what most people don’t understand is once it passes your gums and is ingested you’ve pretty much swallowed a poison. It has no medicinal value past your teeth and can cause a multitude of health problems.

In 1945 the fluoride revolution began and a barrage of hired guns disguised as scientists and dentists convulsed on small communities to sell more Hydrofluorosilicic Acid. Armed with incomplete and inaccurate information they proceeded to scare communities into believing they could save children’s teeth by adding this acid into drinking water.

Over the next 25 years or so the fluoride industry showed data proving the induction of this acid in drinking water was working. It was the big lie of the ’50s and ’60s. What these studies failed to inform us of was that the dental industry also took on the use of fluoride in a big way and toothpaste started to add fluoride to their products. Also, during this time education about the benefits of good oral hygiene created a huge shift in the way we took care of our mouths. The 6-month dental visits became the norm.

Too often doctors are afraid to call out the health problems we see from this every day. Too often acid reflux, heart burn and even ulcers are blamed on coffee or soda, But yet we add acids to our diets every time we drink water. Drinking bottled water won’t save you either because Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is hard to remove from water. We’ve added so much of it over the years it can actually be detected in lake water.

Now if you look at new data over the past 25 years you can see that communities that do not add fluoride to their water show NO signs that their children’s teeth are worse off than those that do. A little known fact that the fluoride industry spends millions of dollars to keep quiet.

Now that the lion is out of its cage putting it back in will be difficult. Whenever communities even breath of removing it from drinking water lawyers will descend upon that community with motion after motion until the community can no longer afford to fight them.

But the truth is it is truly the vote of said community that determines fluoride in water treatment. In October of 1965 Albion voters, with inaccurate and incomplete information voted to add this acid to our water. To my knowledge no vote has been handed out since then.

I did try a few years back to get the Albion Village Board to consider putting this out to the public for a new vote with more up to date information. I was shut down by the next regular meeting and it was never even brought up again in a public forum.

The bottom line is it is up to the community whether this acid stays in your water or not. Voice your concerns, have a say. Let’s educate ourselves and convince Albion and all water treatment facilities in Orleans County to at least put this back up for debate and vote.

Mike Clemons

Certified Cross Connection Control Specialist

Albion