Two Carroll County residents shared their distaste over fluoridation of drinking water and non-user fees with board members at the Feb. 13 Public Service Authority meeting.

Judy Jones, who identified herself as a Cliffview Community resident, spoke first during the citizen’s time portion of the meeting.

“I’m here to express my concern over the PSA water project. I have an efficient and functioning well. Therefore I did not sign up for the water that has recently gone through last year. I might would have signed up for that but I found out that the water is toxic. It contains fluoride. The PSA is accepting the practice of adding fluoride to the county water and I feel like that is harmful, has no useful purpose for treatment and it’s poison,” said Jones.

She told authority members toothpaste with fluoride has a warning on it not to swallow it and to call poison control if any is swallowed. She said a pea-sized amount of toothpaste equals the amount of fluoride in eight ounces of treated water.

“Also, now that I’m considered a non-user I understand I will be charged each month a fee, which really should be called a fine because a fee is if you’re receiving a service. Since I chose not to get the water I’m not going to be getting a service. Yet I’m going to be charged a fine for that,” Jones said. “A good example of good service Carroll County has, is trash pickup. If I choose to have my trash picked up it’s a service. But if I choose not to have it picked up, it’s like being charged for them to drive by my house to pick up my neighbor’s trash. I think that’s the same thing as being charged for water. My neighbor may have signed up for the water but I chose not to. Yet I’m going to be charged for not getting a meter and attaching to any of the service for the water.”

Jones requested the committee stop putting fluoride in water “for the health of human beings.” She said it serves no purpose and she asked them not to charge a fine to non-users.

Robert Patton spoke next.

“She (Jones) has said a whole lot of the things I’m going to say. I’m here to express my concerns of the unethical practice of the PSA and an explanation of the user fee. Of course it’s a charge or a payment of a service which I’m not getting. I don’t want it and I’m not signed up for it. It would be like, I’m using this as an example, but it’d be like if I was a dentist and had someone come into my office to have teeth cleaned and charge me for the service which I understand. But this is like when you are driving by his office and not even stopping. You see me go by and then charge me every month for the rest of my life for a service that I don’t want. I know you have to do this to get a grant. It’s what I’ve learned through my research. I’d like to know the amount of the grant was for. I’d be interested to know if there’s any other way to supplement this non-user thing. This is just outrageous.”

Patton said he also objects to adding fluoride to drinking water and said people bathe and wash food with fluoridated water. He said it is in tea, coffee and soft drinks.

“There’s just no way to get away from it. With the PSA adding this to our water in our community that was the only salvation we got and I understand it is added to the water in Austinville and it (the regulation) probably comes down from Richmond or somewhere. I don’t know,” Patton said. “It has no purpose whatsoever in our water supply. It’s highly toxic. Fluoride is more toxic than lead and just slightly less toxic than arsenic. It’s industrial waste. Fluoride is a toxic waste from the manufacture of fertilizer, steel, nuclear and aluminum industries and it’s not a pharmaceutical grade fluoride.”

Patton said much fluoride comes from China and said sheet rock from China installed in homes in Florida had to be removed because it damaged wiring and made people sick.

“I know it’s probably not checked enough and even if it was pharmaceutical grade fluoride it has no business being in our drinking water,” Patton said. He cited the work of chemist Charles Perkins, who he said spent 20 years on fluoride, made the statement any person who drinks artificially fluoridated water for a period of one year or more will never be the same person mentally or physically.

Chairman William Payne thanked the two and said the group would look into the matter. Authority member Dr. Tom Littrell’s rebuttal came following a closed meeting, during the authority member’s time portion of the agenda.

“I’m speaking as a PSA member, a dentist and someone who believes strongly in the scientific method. I’m going to read from a study I found online,” said Littrell. “In the 1940s children in communities with fluoridated drinking water had reductions of tooth decay of about 60 percent as compared to those living in non-fluoridated communities. Recent studies still reveal decay scores are lower in naturally fluoridated areas. When adjusted for this it indicates 40 percent, probably attributed to the presence (of fluoride) in flood, dental products and dietary supplements. I’m always amazed at how much disinformation is available to the public. The argument against one of the most effective public health projects, fluoridation of public water supplies has been ongoing since its inception in the 1940s.”

He said Fries was one of the very first communities to benefit from fluoride and it is not some “conspiracy to poison the American people.”

“It has been proven time and time again by scientific studies that fluoridating water is safe and effective at a very low cost. Fluoride has reduced tooth decay and saved countless millions, probably billions of dollars by preventing tooth decay and alleviating pain and tooth loss,” Littrell said. “The American Dental Association, and many other prestigious organizations have carried out rigid, controlled studies over a long time that have proven fluoride’s effectiveness and lack of any side effects. The proportion of parts per million, which are what is typically in municipal water supplies is unequivocally safe and effective. As a side note, fluoride occurs naturally in places such as West Arkansas, East Texas and even parts of Grayson County. The folks who have been using this for eons naturally occurring in water have no more health issues than any one else in non fluoridated areas.”

Executive Director Jessica Montgomery briefed the Authority members on project updates. She said all original project construction has been completed on the Cliffview Water project with the contract with CW Cauley & Son left open for a change order on a line extension on Gambetta road. She said the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development division had authorized spending the remaining project contingency funds to extend water line .6 miles to serve additional customers.

Montgomery and Payne reported a meeting with Mount Airy and Surry County to discuss potential extension of the city’s water system along Route 52 to serve Cana. she said further negotiations to work out particulars would be required.

• Original article online at http://www.thecarrollnews.com/news/2882/citizens-left-with-bad-taste-in-mouth-over-flouride-and-fees

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