Before we get to part 3 of our “Why We Do It” series, a quick word about our fundraiser. As of 8 am this morning we had reached $120,425 from 444 donors.
We have just 5 days left to reach our goals of $150,000 from 1000 donors by midnight (PT) Dec 31. We have never reached either goal before – and the number of donors (or rather supporters) would appear to be the most challenging. That is why one of our most generous supporters has offered to donate very generous amounts as we reach the following milestones. At 500 donors (just 56 donors away) he will donate $4000, and another $2000 for each successive 100 mark until we reach a 1000.
Are you a lone voice in your family or do other members support your effort to end fluoridation? If you haven’t made your donation yet you can simply add their first names on your online donation. To do this, on the first name line put your name first, then the other first names of family members separated by commas (alternatively send me a list of their names and I will adjust the total accordingly. No names will be made publicly available). This need not affect the amount you give BUT it could make a HUGE difference in growing our numbers and reaching our ambitious goals – and most importantly the chances of success in 2017.
Thanks to two other very generous supporters all donations are being doubled until we reach $125,000.
To make a tax-deductible donation to the Fluoride Action Network, a project of the American Environmental Health Studies Project, you can either:
- Donate online using our secure server. If you should experience difficulty in donating at our secure server, please call Network For Good at 1-888-284-7978 and press option 3 to make your donation over the phone.
- Or by check – please make checks payable to Fluoride Action Network and send to: FAN, c/o Connett, 104 Walnut Street, Binghamton NY 13905
PREMIUMS: See the exciting premiums we have available (with photos!) here.
Paul Connett, PhD
Member of FAN’s fundraising team for 2016
Why We Do It – Part 3
FAN Director, Bill Osmunson, DDS, MPH. Bill has a longer version at the end of these statements. Short version:
“Brains are more important than teeth…and I’m a dentist.”
James Beck, MD, PhD is a retired professor of biophysics from the University of Calgary, Alberta. He was also co-author of The Case Against Fluoride (Chelsea Green, 2010). James spearheaded the successful effort to get fluoride out of Calgary and thus liberated 1.2 million people from this practice:
“I was, I am, motivated to oppose fluoridation because it is a violation of medical ethics (and, by the way, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) and because its promotion is a gross example of lack of scientific integrity. And there is the glaring fact that it is doing a lot of harm to a lot of people for no good reason.”
Karen Spencer from Massachusetts. She recently appeared with Audrey Adams on the Womenpower Radio Show:
“I spend hours on fluoridation opposition because of a moral imperative. I suffered for decades and my family has been irrevocably harmed by this intentional environmental poisoning. I knew there was something in the water not quite right even though I used a high quality filter, but my doctors dismissed my concerns. None of the material available to me until recently was adequate to factually address my issues, so we suffered. I do what I do so that pregnant women, families, those with autoimmune diseases, allergies or other health issues, and senior citizens have easily accessible, easily understood, actionable information backed up by scientific citations and clinical evidence so that they don’t suffer. No one can undo the damage done to my family or give me back decades of my life, but my efforts can help save others from the same fate.
When I stand before God to be judged, I will be able to say that I obeyed His golden rule and made good use of the gifts he gave me… and that means using my knowledge, my skills and the pain of my own experience to end fluoridation.”
John Sprovieri, Councilor for Peel Region of Ontario. John is an exceptionable example of a local councilor in Canada with an open mind and willingness to read the literature on this issue and then the courage to challenge the public health “yes men”:
“Regarding your request for comments as to why I am fighting AWF in Peel Region, based on the information that has been provided to me, I am fully convinced that Artificial Water Fluoridation [AWF] has been a Scam from the start, has done harm to a huge number of people in the past, is doing harm to people today and will do harm to future generations unless it is totally discontinued everywhere.
The unfortunate reality about AWF is that, decision makers like me have been given and are given misleading information by trusted medical professionals and government officials. As a result decision makers are misled and make the wrong decision.
From what I have seen, not many decision makers take the time to research and learn what is actually added to the drinking water supply and the harm that is done to people.
Those of us that see the scam of AWF have a duty to challenge the advisors that are misleading the decision makers in order to expose their misinformation.”
David. We have several Davids fighting this Goliath–David Kennedy (San Diego), David McRae (Australia), and David Hill (Alberta)–here is another who left his last name anonymous:
“My reasons have all been covered except for one. I do it for the message it sends to my kids and the discussions it sometimes leads to around the dinner table.
I have three teenagers who used to joke about my “hobby” and my “nemesis” (Our local MOH), but just last week I found a project that my high school senior son had prepared with the title “Should we fluoridate our water?”. Naturally his conclusion was “no”, but I was amazed at what he had come up with, complete with citations, without any help from me.
More than the actual information learned, I hope and believe that my kids are getting the message that the mainstream can be, and often is, wrong and that it takes some persistence to overcome those who can’t bring themselves to admit a mistake.”
Arlene Goetze, MA, journalist, health writer, and mother of seven. I know there are older supporters than Arlene (she is 81) but very few more active and more personally touched by fluoride damage in her family. Recently, she poured her heart, soul and her considerable writing abilities into trying to prevent the fluoridation of 845,000 people in Silicon Valley. But the first round was lost when a small part of San Jose received fluoride on Dec. 12 with the rest in two years. Arlene writes:
“Why at age 81 do I fight fluoride? As a ‘reformer personality’, for many years I have tried to save others from the fluoride damage experienced by my family.
My dad filled up with fluoride and lost his teeth as a WWII worker making the A-bomb in 1940s. He suffered for 25 years from being exposed to this toxic substance.
My family drank fluoride while living on military bases in the 1960s, and unknown to me my prenatal vitamins for my 7 children included fluoride. We had one child born with birth defects and she still has dental problems at age 52. At least 5 of my 18 ‘rich, white’ grandchildren’ are experiencing symptoms which I believe are caused by fluoride.
As a writer interested in health for the past 60 years, I have tried to educate water boards, elected officials, journalists and hundreds more about keeping fluoride out of Silicon Valley with weekly emails. But it started Dec. 12 and within two more years, a million or more residents will share another 600 tons of hydrofluosilicic acid. I still believe in the power of words: but they only work if people are prepared to listen.”
Joy Warren hails from Coventry, UK, where she heads up a group fighting fluoridation in the Midlands (where most of the 10% of the UK population drinking artificially fluoridated water reside):
“I became interested in the fluoridation issue in 2003. Almost immediately I became aware that something was not ringing true about the issue. It’s the only example of compulsory medicine forced on people who retain their mental capacity. So many UK Government agencies are embroiled in keeping the fluoride in our water. Public Health England has taken on the task of supporting the practice to the hilt despite recent research which argues that fluoridation is ineffectual at preventing dental decay. Even our Chief Medical Officer for England is immune to our reasoning.
Sound medical messages from centuries ago have been buried, white-wash has been used to disguise the name of, and contaminants in, the fluoridating agent, and all attempts to talk to policy-makers by activists have been firmly turned away. Indeed, there is something hidden deep about the issue.
Am I going to sit back and allow the truth to be buried? No – I can’t do that. I see this battle as being a life-changing, life-long challenge. Even though I am sad that the UK Government and Civil Servants have been shown to be corrupt, throwing in the towel is not an option. Even though our National Media makes fluoridation look like a trivial issue, that’s no reason to stop trying to get the message out there by other means. Even though the majority of people who are fluoridated do not know that they are fluoridated, why should I stop battling against this injustice.
I have recently joined up with Ivor Hueting of Safe Water Information Service and we have formed the UK Freedom From Fluoride Alliance. UKFFFA has taken on the responsibility of fighting fluoridation nationally whenever and wherever it is proposed. Our recent successes have been Wakefield and Bedford where we advised and supported the local anti-fluoridation groups. We’re currently heavily involved with proposals to fluoridate Hull (Yorkshire). Other Local Authority areas where fluoridation is being ‘murmured’ are Barnsley and Nottingham. The strategy is to get our viewpoint heard by those who will initially be asked to consider fluoridation before they have entered the formal process. It’s also important to galvanise local activists from the outset and not wait for them to form just prior to a public consultation. I’m pleased to report that there is no shortage of local people who want to do something constructive against fluoridation proposals.
Alas, we are not able to stop existing programmes, especially when the programmes are controlled by Labour-controlled Local Authorities. Eventually, we hope that they will see reason when they become aware of the list of UK Local Authorities which have decided not to fluoridate their citizens.”
Mary Hillary, from Fluoride Free Ireland.
“A chance meeting can change your life. As a busy mother of four school going- children in 1999 I met Dr. Hans Moolenburgh in Dublin with his wife. He was in Ireland to appear on national television to explain why he believed artificial water fluoridation was harmful and an unnecessary health risk. Dr. Moolenburgh was instrumental with other campaigners in Holland to have the policy stopped there in the early 1970s. He changed my life that day and my journey as a clean water campaigner began.
Seventeen years later being an anti-water fluoridation campaigner is part of who I am. The fight found me. I am a layperson who had to read many books, reports, leaflets, pamphlets and documents since 1999 to understand this complex issue. Now my position is this: I believe no doctor, dentist or politician or group should endorse a law here, that forces water authorities to add cumulative, toxic, unnamed, contaminated chemicals to the water I give my family. I will protect them and spread the word at every opportunity about the harmful side effects that were known at the start, and are now in the public domain.
In Ireland thousands of people have signed the petition site on the www.fluoridefreewater.ie website on the ‘What you can do‘ page.
Politicians endorse the Irish fluoridation law, yet many of them don’t even drink the fluoridated water in government buildings, where there are large water filters on display. Bottled water can be seen in front of politicians, at meetings aired on television. If they endorse fluoridated tap water, why don’t they drink it themselves? We are the voice of our children, our animals, and environment and are proud to be linked to like-minded people across the world who believe the artificial water fluoridation policy was a mistake from the start and needs to stop now.”
Owen Boyden provides more information from Ireland:
“Cork County, Cork City, Kerry, Laois, Dublin City, Wexford, Leitrim, Galway, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Dublin South and Waterford City and County Councils representing some 2.5 million Irish Citizens have all passed motions since early 2014 calling on the Government to immediately scrap The Health (fluoridation of water supplies) Act 1960 and bring Ireland’s position to this matter in line with EU precedent for which not one other European Government maintain a similar policy due to health, environmental, legal or ethical concerns as a result of ongoing scientific, medical or political objection.
The biggest obstacle for further progress has been the refusal of Government health agencies to recognize any of the many recent studies that indicate that fluoride can damage the brain and the endocrine system and other systems. It has even be difficult to get Irish authorities to recognize that dental fluorosis is a violation of bodily integrity not only of children but also the fetus. Evidence in the SCHER Report supports the view that primary dentition fluorosis is a birth defect bearing in mind the amelogenesis stage of tooth development occurs between the ages of 5 and 8 months in utero and it’s during this stage of tooth development that malformation (fluorosis) of the enamel surface could occur as a result of the maternal fluoride intake crossing the placenta.”
FAN Director, Bill Osmunson DDS, MPH. Longer version:
“Fluoridation is the worst of both of my professions.
For about 25 years as a dentist I promoted water fluoridation. When I read the research for myself, the evidence was like a knee in the gut. Not only is the research low quality, but numerous vital scientific questions have not been answered. Fluoridation is based on assumptions, not science. My Public Health profession is a pack of sheep, faith-based rather than science-based. Faith, trust and unquestioned loyalty are drilled into us in school. The Public Health profession are like soldiers without a leader and refusing to question policy.
Fluoride pushers assume we all drink about the same amount of water. They assume we don’t get much fluoride from other sources. They assume no one is chemically sensitive and everyone’s kidneys are working just fine. They assume any combination of chemicals will not increase fluoride’s risk. They assume we all would give our consent, if we would just trust them. They assume fluoride goes in the mouth with a direct pipeline to the teeth bypassing all other tissues. They don’t even know how much fluoride in the tooth is advantageous.
Excess fluoride exposure causes over a trillion dollars a year damage to our health. I do not know of any public health action which would provide greater health improvement and save more money than simply turning off the fluoride pumps. Ethics, science and economics say “turn the fluoride pumps off.”
As a team, we can stop fluoridation, we must, and we will.”
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