Many people don’t know the true source of the fluoride that Durango adds to our drinking water. Simply see the City of Durango’s Water Confidence page, www.durangogov.org/DocumentCenter/View/2585. It identifies the source of fluoride as residue from aluminum and fertilizer manufacturing!
Industrial sodium fluoride from China is used for water fluoridation in Durango. See cleanwaterdurango.org for photos and an independent laboratory analysis of sodium fluoride from China. Sodium fluoride from China, used because it is cheaper, is especially suspect, as the standards in China are minimal. Each bag of their industrial waste, which we traced to an aluminum factory in Zhuzhou, China, varies as to its toxic content. An independent laboratory in Colorado reported that sodium fluoride from China contains significant amounts of lead and trace amounts of aluminum, arsenic, strontium, uranium and tungsten. Chinese sodium fluoride also doubles as a pesticide, as stated by the manufacturer. This is very different from naturally occurring calcium fluoride.
The real problem for residents is the absorption rate of sodium fluoride. Nature regulates the absorption of naturally occurring calcium fluoride to a rate of less than 10 percent. Sodium fluoride, on the other hand, is a salt and is absorbed at a rate of 95-100 percent, bringing with it a toxic cocktail of industrial waste. I know it is hard to believe that industry would do this to our population, but it has ever since fluoridation began.
Dr. Mathew Clark in his letter to the editor on 2/23/17 called sodium fluoride naturally occurring. This is totally misinformed. And even though the City denies that we use aluminum waste products in our water, that is the truth, and it’s classically what America has been using for water fluoridation since 1945.
We have the idea that fluoride is healthy. It may possibly help your teeth, although I would recommend everyone read the warning label on their tube of fluoridated toothpaste. Fluoridation is not about teeth anymore. It’s about having a choice, which Durango residents do not have. Above all we need to understand fluoride’s questionable source and the devastating effects it has on your family’s health.
We also can’t seem to let go of the idea that fluoridation has been called one of the top 10 health achievements of the 20th Century. People fail to mention that the World Health Organization ranks the health of the U.S. population 37th in the world, the worst of all industrialized nations, even though we spend twice as much as any of its 191 member countries. Water fluoridation is one of the reasons we rank so poorly. Ninety-seven percent of the countries ranked ahead of us do not fluoridate. Maybe we shouldn’t brag about a health achievement in a country with such a poor health record.
Many dentists and health professionals think fluoride is natural because it comes from phosphate rock. That is another half truth. The other part of the story is that the most toxic acid known to man, sulfuric acid, is added to phosphate rock to make two very toxic fluoride gasses that are captured and filtered until the desired percentage of fluoride is obtained. These gasses used to be released into the atmosphere, but cattle were killed within a 1-mile radius of the factories in Florida and all vegetation died within 3 miles. Industry was forced to add scrubbers. Manufacturers then sell this toxic fluoride waste to municipalities to release into their drinking water. There is nothing natural about industrial fluoride!
Science demands a spirit of inquiry to challenge long-standing ideas. Durango residents should find out the truth about water fluoridation and why 219 cities across America have discontinued it.
Mail-in ballots must be received by April 4. Vote “FOR” the Initiative not to add sodium fluoride to Durango’s water.
– James Forleo, Durango
Print 
PDF