Public activism is in Gloucester native Karen Favazza Spencer’s DNA.
When her father, Salvatore Favazza, was first executive secretary of the Gloucester City Fisheries Commission, he worked with Congressmen Gerry Studds and Barney Frank and US Sen. Ted Kennedy on behalf of New England fisheries, and for his efforts was awarded in 1976 with the pen President Ford used to sign the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
So far, his daughter’s outspoken opposition to fluoride in America’s drinking water has not resulted in major legislation, but — despite online harassment and threats — she believes she’s getting there.
Favazza Spencer says she knew at a very early age that she wanted “to change the world with my words.”
She is persuasive on the subject of fluoridation, most recently as co-editor with Dr. Hardy Limeback, BSc, PhD, DDS, of “Fluoride Harm: Suppressed Science and Silenced Voices.” She hopes the 36 “groundbreaking” essays will be a major mind changer for those who see fluoride simply as the cavity-fighting champion of the great white American smile.
What changed her mind about fluoride, she says, was when, as a young mother in the 1980s, she began to suspect it was at the root of increasingly debilitating health issues — a self diagnosis roundly dismissed by her then physician. “But I’d narrowed it down,” she says. “It was the only thing that made sense. And I’m an analyst, a researcher.” So when the internet came in, she started researching and what she learned made her the activist she is today.
Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral in water, caught the attention of science and public health officials when it was noted that a higher level of natural fluoride in Colorado’s water supply seemed to correlate with a lower incidence of tooth decay.
But fluoride, says Favazza Spencer, is “one of the least transparent issues in public health today,” even though more than 200 million Americans have been faithfully ingesting it daily since 1945.
he 36 essays in this book will, she hopes, change that. Among the authors are dentists, noted environmental scientists, a toxicopathologist, journalists, family doctors, professors and Erin Brockovich, the hero and namesake of the movie about groundwater contamination and the ills it caused in Hinckley, California.
The essays, Favazza Spencer says, recount personal harm caused by fluoride and the discrimination, ridicule, and personal attacks suffered by the authors because of their anti-fluoride advocacy, The book opens with a forward by Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD, the surgeon general of Florida, one of two states — the other being Utah —to ban the addition of fluoride to drinking water.
Together, the 36 essays testify, she says, that fluoride in community drinking water has side effects such as learning disabilities, lowered IQ, and (possible) “significant loss in cognitive functions for babies.” Just since 2015, she says that studies have been published that validate that fluoride, even in low doses,”is harmful to bodies, brains and bones of consumers from womb to tomb …”
She notes the Gloucester and Rockport Conservation Commissions are on record opposing fluoridation policy. The Gloucester Shellfish Advisory Commission also condemns fluoridation policy as a potential stressor for that industry.
The Gloucester City Council is the only authority that can end fluoridation in this city under Massachusetts law. And Favazza-Spencer laughs when she admits that she has made herself a nuisance on the subject at City Hall.
Available in paperback, the 432 page book, “Fluoride Harm: Suppressed Science and Silenced Voices,” can be purchased on Amazon for $35.
Original article online at: https://www.gloucestertimes.com/news/local_news/gloucesters-native-throws-the-book-at-fluoride/article_e5da5f8f-27f6-491f-8e24-021bb43bfdeb.html