In the continuing saga of “The Fluoride Fallacy,” and the impending increase in our water rates, I’ve been doing more research.
Here we go again … it’s the proverbial shell game. Take the money from the poor slob with a smoking addiction and give it to our trusted politicians who then teach us poor slobs about the protection of our children’s health. Good idea?
Smoking cessation, vaccinations, fluoridation, prevarication … What is the First Five Commission, this mysterious government entity that most people have never heard of, or perhaps have forgotten, based on Proposition 10, a statewide vote back in 1998?
I too had forgotten about this, but did anyone back then know what would happen to between $500 million and $750 million Bucks (hundreds of millions of dollars annually) once Sacra-Demento got a hold of it?
Most people would agree that this particular sin tax, on cigarettes, is a good thing and would not give it another thought. (If we could just keep the butts off the beaches, right? Of the garbage collected from public beaches, 40 percent is cig butts!) I digress. We blindly trust government and the officials elected, appointed, or hired to serve us.
None of my friends, some very smart individuals I queried in a recent mini-poll, knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the First Five Commission. Here’s some data for you to ponder and verify, taken straight from their official web page:
“First 5 California represents an important part of our state’s effort to nurture and protect our most precious resource — our children. Research shows that a child’s brain develops most dramatically during the early years of life. Our focus at First 5 California is to educate parents and caregivers about the important role they play in their children’s first years. First 5 California’s services and support are designed to ensure that more children are born healthy and reach their full potential.”
Sounds good, but please define “nurture and protect.” Water fluoridation is one of their healthy ideas, on which they spend tons of money, but fluoride isn’t a nutrient, nor is it an essential mineral. Trust me; you don’t want to pollute your young child’s developing body with this chemical! Did you know that state law approving fluoridation is in violation of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act?
“The promise of First 5 California is to continue to invest in services and programs that directly benefit children and families and to advocate for a sustainable early childhood system for future generations. Current efforts at First 5 California include the development and implementation of integrated programs and resources designed to benefit three target audiences: the Child, the Teacher, and the Parent in the focus areas of Nutrition, Early Literacy and Language Development, and Smoking Cessation. Our public education and outreach efforts also target hard-to-reach and low-income populations through a variety of effective media approaches.”
Promises, promises. How are these goals being accomplished? Why is it that preschoolers are more obese than ever before? Why is autism increasing? Why is our state ranked No. 49 in the nation in spending on education? Could it be more waste and corruption? Promote cessation of cigarette smoking, yet legalize marijuana? Who are these experts and how much are they paid? Another case of pigs at a trough?
“While we are proud of First 5 California’s accomplishments to date, our work is far from over. We are eager to work toward meeting the new challenges that await us, and we are confident that we will continue to have a positive impact on California’s youngest children and the futures they deserve.”
Positively outrageous! They claim to base their funding decisions on community input. Please get informed and speak up to your favorite politicians — local, county and state. And, be sure to oppose the water rate increase.
Celia Kiewit is an Encinitas resident.
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