Regarding the May 23 story, “Speakers Plead for Santa Maria to Resume Putting Fluoride in Water,” as a former Crescent City city councilwoman, I was instrumental in investigating my constituents’ complaints about the harmfulness of water fluoridation.
As a result, I helped get an initiative on the 2012 ballot and we successfully voted in a moratorium to turn off the toxic industrial waste fluoride (Hydroflusolicic acid or HFSA) because our supplier would not provide three things:
» Toxicological report
» Listing of contaminants
» Proof that the product was safe for all water consumers, infants to seniors
This absurd practice of adding HFSA is based more on politics than science. Why should a water department be given the power to medicate anyone when they don’t take a health history, they don’t pass out a listing of side effects or monitor the dose. This is tantamount to gross negligence.
Water consumers started to send in their payment under protest so that when the class-action lawsuits begin they would be covered.
After adding water fluoridation for 44 years, our city had 70 percent cavities in our childrens’ teeth (this figure was quoted from Dr. Susan Wellman, a pro-fluoride dentist), high obesity rates and low test scores —hardly an endorsement for continuing this unethical practice.
We were also ranked 34th in the nation for cancer while Brookings, Ore., just 25 minutes north of us, was ranked 765th in the nation for cancer for the same time period and Brookings never fluoridated its water.
We have high rates of not only cancer but thyroid, diabetes and kidney disease, all with links to HFSA. One constituent ended up in the emergency room with seizures after showering for 10 minutes. Her doctor has subsequently written a letter describing her allergic reaction to water fluoridation. She was on a medication that contained fluoride, which in combination with absorbing this poison transdermally by showering, put her in the hospital.
Please do your homework and study the reports on Fluoride Action Network as a starting point.
Donna Westfall
Crescent City
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