- Organizations Which Endorse the Safe Drinking Water Initiative
- Health Conscious Groups Gather Signatures To Ban Fluoridation in California
- Why the petitions have that strange paragraph that alleges that banning fluoridation will increase dental costs.
- Text of the initiative.
- Instructions for Circulating Petitions
- Where to get petitions
- America: Overdosed on Fluoride
Join the Signature Drive
The signature drive for qualification of the California Safe Drinking Water Initiative is under way. Our goal is to collect over 1,000,000 signatures by the end of summer.According to the Center for Disease Control, there are large segments of our population that are unusually susceptible to fluoride poisoning, which include infants, the elderly (sorry, that is anyone over 50), people with cardiovascular and kidney problems, and people with deficiencies of dietary calcium, magnesium, and or vitamin C.
Indigent children, who are the supposed target for the mass medication, are the most likely to be undernourished, and the most likely to suffer the consequences of fluoride poisoning; fracture-prone teeth displaying mottling, porosity and discoloration of the enamel.
Meanwhile, the legislature arrogantly ignored proof of fluoridation's harm and ineffectiveness. California's own welfare records show that the State pays more in dental care costs per eligible recipient in the fluoridated counties than it does in the non fluoridated counties. Help stop fluoridation by gathering registered voters signatures. Call 1 (888) 704-3833 for petitions.
Health Conscious Groups Gather Signatures To Ban Fluoridation in California
In yet another case of citizens mobilizing in response to what they describe as an abuse of trust and legislative arrogance, supporters of a safe drinking water ban on fluoridation are using the initiative process to protect themselves from government-dictated ingestion of fluoride.
David C. Kennedy, DDS, past president of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, with the support of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water and other health conscious groups and individuals, began circulation of a petition on May 21 of this year in California to place an initiative on the next statewide ballot that would ban the fluoridation of public drinking water throughout the state. Supporters must gather an estimated 750,000 to one million signatures within 150 days to assure qualification for the June 1998 ballot. The initiative would reverse the statewide mandate to fluoridate, passed by the State Legislature and Governor Pete Wilson in October, 1995, and scheduled for implementation this year.
"In an effort to get the rest of the states to jump on the fluoridation bandwagon, promoters are eager to point out that more than 60% of the US is already adding fluoride. California is described as the last obstacle to mass medication of the entire nation by the year 2000."
"If California did not have the initiative process to correct legislative abuse, which unfortunately one-half of the states do not have, we would already be on that bandwagon," said Jeff Green, Director of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water. "California voters have had to reject fluoridation at the municipal level more than 70 times. Even now, Los Angeles plans to use this law as cover to fluoridate at rate payers expense, despite no requirement to do so and municipal law put in place by voters expressly forbidding it."
"The voters believe that the government's water management responsibility is to maintain safe drinking water for all of us, and we have repeatedly rejected the government's attempts to mass medicate the entire population with a hazardous waste under the guise that fluoride would otherwise be unavailable to the indigent."
Fluoride is more toxic than lead, and just slightly less toxic than arsenic, and our legislature has approved adding it to the water at 66 to 156 times the maximum allowable concentration of lead, while studies have shown that, just like lead, fluoride has neurological impact with diminishment in IQ.
Certainly the voters without a preconceived fluoride agenda can readily determine the toxic properties of fluoride by simply reviewing just a few of its many industrial uses. Fluoride is used to etch glass, separate uranium isotopes, inhibit fermentation in breweries, polish aluminum, and kill insects, rats, and coyotes. It is the primary ingredient in Prozac, and the only toxic element in the nerve gas Sarin, rated 1500 times more deadly than Cyanide. It does not stop being the same element when we swallow.
"With many people trying to reduce their exposure to toxicity, this does not make sense, and the voters will say that, even if our legislators will not," said Green. There are large segments of our population that are highly susceptible to fluoride poisoning, which include the elderly (50+), people with cardiovascular and kidney problems, and people with deficiencies of calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C.
"Indigent children, who are the supposed target for the mass medication of our entire population, are the most likely to have poor nutrition, and the most likely to suffer the consequences of fluoride poisoning." Green said.
"Meanwhile, the legislature arrogantly ignored documents that relate directly to fluoridation ineffectiveness: California's own welfare records, that show that the State pays more in dental care costs per eligible recipient in the fluoridated counties than it does in the non fluoridated counties; and the largest study in the US., of 39,000 children in 84 communities, that shows no significant difference in decay rates between fluoridated, partially fluoridated, and non fluoridated areas."
"The legislature chose to force-feed us at the same level of fluoride concentration that was deemed appropriate in 1945, before introduction of fluoride toothpaste and our exposure to fluoride in every soda, beer, juice, pasta or other food processed with fluoridated water. This is not acceptable. We are already being overdosed." Green said.
"The initiative is straightforward," said Kennedy, the author of the petition. "It states that the drinking water should be safe for all to drink. That in order to protect the public health from the risks of hip fracture, cancer, and dental fluorosis, and as records show that fluoride in the water does not reduce tooth decay or dental costs as claimed, no fluoride may be added to the water."
BACKGROUND
"More than fifty years ago, before fluoridated toothpaste, fluoridated mouthrinse, fluoridated floss, and fluoridated toothpicks," said Kennedy, "the promoters of fluoridation chose an arbitrary 'optimum concentration' of fluoride that was based on a limited daily intake of water, which didn't take into consideration differences in the amount of water ingested, or body weight, such as that of a child versus a 220 lbs laborer or athlete."
"They conceded that there was no margin of safety at that chosen concentration, but were willing to sacrifice what they claimed would be only 10% of our children to spotted and mottled teeth (dental fluorosis), which they like to call 'merely cosmetic'. They claimed there would be no other harmful effects.
"Well, dental fluorosis is now afflicting more than 25% of our nation's children, and as many as 80% of those with poor nutrition in fluoridated areas, and it isn't just cosmetic. It's just the first outwardly visible sign of fluoride poisoning. And studies now show dental fluorosis has also been linked to neurological impairment and behavioral changes in animals, and diminished IQ in humans.
"Unfortunately the harm doesn't stop there," Kennedy said. "The US, which is 60% fluoridated, has the highest hip fracture rate for the elderly in the world. Hip fractures are horribly painful, and very few of the elderly ever return home. Studies to-date have found a significant increase in hip fractures in both men and women after prolonged exposure to fluoridated drinking water.
"In 1986 the EPA union of 1100 scientists, attorneys, and engineers at EPA headquarters accused EPA management (which encourages the use of hazardous waste to fluoridate the water) with fraudulently altering scientific data and conclusions to avoid fluoride being classified as a carcinogen," said Kennedy. "Just one of the reasons for calling fluoride the politically protected poison.
"This is not a new fight", said Green. "With the money and political clout to work the city halls and state legislatures, fluoride promoters have been highly successful in convincing politicians to pass their legislation, as evidenced by our need for citizen action to reject it so often.
"The promoters can afford to be persistent. Not only do the suppliers get paid for the fluoride, but more importantly they avoid the cost of treatment at the highest rated hazardous waste dumps, which is where the fluoride waste has to go if it is not dumped in our water.
"They also maintain an artificially high contamination level standard that minimizes their liability for spills and dumping. The federal maximum contaminant level for placing fluoride in the water is set at 4 parts per million (266 times allowable lead), at which concentration dental fluorosis will be present in 100% of the children."
Fluoride does not stop being a toxic element when we swallow.
"85% of California and 98% of Europe remains non fluoridated today because citizens, somewhere, were vigilant and acted on our behalf. We appreciate, and our health and welfare necessitates, the efforts of the concerned citizens throughout the nation and around the world to eliminate this public poisoning."