Dear Supporter:

1) Our first VICTORY of 2015 

Councilors in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania (pop. 5,500) voted on Wednesday to rescind their Feb. 2014 vote to restart fluoridation.  The council had originally ended fluoridation at the end of 2010, but due to pressure from the dental lobby they voted to restart the practice this past February.  Since last year’s vote several councilors, as well as the Mayor, reported hearing concerns about the practice from many residents, causing them to ultimately change their minds on the issue.

This is a great example of why campaigners should never give up their education efforts in their community and to keep educating their elected officials about the risks associated with fluoridation, even after a council has approved the practice.

2) New totals for the FAN Fundraiser

Dec 2014 was our most successful fundraiser ever. We have reached a total of $148,476, a stone’s throw from our ambitious target of $150,000.  Thank you to the 802 donors who made this magnificent total possible. We pledge to use every dollar as effectively as we possibly can to end this practice once and for all.

Despite our very successful fundraiser we know that we are going to be massively outspent by the fluoridation forces during this coming year. They have many millions of dollars (including $61 million of taxpayers money) to put into their PR machine. However what they don’t have is the science that shows that fluoridation is either safe or effective and they don’t have the integrity or conviction to engage in open public debate. Like most propagandists they simply engage in repetition. In this case two constant refrains: a) they have “authority” on their side and b) opponents are unscientific and emotional. They get away with this nonsense because the media is simply not doing a professional job uncovering the total inadequacy of their case.

One weapon that we have that they don’t is CREATIVITY and that came out in our poster competition.

3) The results of the Poster Competition

We and many of you (we had over 150 comments on these posters) were bowled over by the variety and excellence of these posters. They have also given us some very potent campaign ideas, which will become apparent over the next few weeks and months.

In the voting system we awarded 3 points for a #1 vote, 2 points for #2 vote and 1 point for a #3 vote. The final tally was:

• Coming in first with 146 points: Ben Garrison (entry 2): The jig saw puzzle

• Coming in second with 131 points: William Woeger: CDC bottle-feeding baby a poison

• Coming in third with 119 points: Donna (entry 2): “Do you really want her drinking a neurotoxin?”

The winners are online here.  Again we would like to warmly and gratefully thank all the participants: you really got our juices flowing here!

We invite all our participants to select one premium from our FAN collection. We invite Donna to select two, William three and Ben five.

Beyond the fun and the prestige of this competition is the excitement of knowing that we have such wonderful creative talent to select from as we create new leaflets, new posters, new billboards and possibly new advertisements.

We are setting up a committee to discuss how we go forward with these plans. If you would like to be on that committee please email Ellen@fluoridealert.org . I am sure you will appreciate that there will have to be a little vetting to make sure that our opponents don’t eavesdrop on these discussions.

4) The sign-on letter to Burwell and McCarthy

Thanks to everyone who signed on to the letter penned by attorney Gerald Steel to HHS Secretary Burwell and EPA Administrator McCarthy. As of Jan. 3, there were 213 signers including 57 Professionals and 20 Organizations. If more have been posted since then we will let you know in the next bulletin.

5) Outrage over NZ’s new language for fluoride

Thanks to all who sent in comments to the NZ health authorities who are attempting to change the English language in their hell-bent efforts to keep the outdated and foolish practice of fluoridation going in NZ at all costs – which includes, of course, the integrity of the NZ Ministry of Health; the District Health Boards and sundry lobbyists from academia and elsewhere. This along with the fluoridating chemicals is going down the drain in NZ.

Their Jan 9 deadline has passed. NZ is 18 hours ahead of EST in the US but it is just possible that comments will still be accepted from outside NZ over the weekend because of the time difference.

So a cracking start indeed. Thanks for your support on all these different fronts. Stay tuned there is much more to come. 2015 could be our biggest year yet. We are circling the wagons on this insane practice. As the billboard says, “Do you really want your child drinking a neurotoxic chemical?”

Paul Connett, PhD,
Director, Fluoride Action Network,
Co-author, The Case Against Fluoride (Chelsea Green, 2010)
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