To the editor:
The presentation to the City Council on May 27 was about water fluoridation, requested by the City Council in response to a letter received from Dr. Dan Eyink, M.D. Eyink is a member of Health Roundhouse, a group of concerned citizens working to improve the health and well-being for all Newburyport residents and visitors.
Our presentation to the City Council was to detail the latest scientific research. Recent announcements by Harvard scientists show an average 7-14 percent deficit in IQ testing amongst adolescents living in fluoridated areas. Harvard also disclosed, males under 20 years of age have exhibited a six-fold increase in bone cancer in fluoridated areas. Harvard also linked ADD, autism and cognitive delays to the fluoridation of municipal water.
The peer review scientific research presented (Varner et el) proves unequivocally that fluoride causes brain damage and kidney failure, and an 80 percent mortality rate. The Centers for Disease Control’s own statistic that dental fluorosis (mottling of the teeth), a lifelong affliction, is present in 41 percent of adolescents.
Dental fluorosis is the visible sign of systemic toxicity revealing skeletal fluorosis and the potential physical ailments of arthritis, fibromyalgia, thyroid disease and Alzheimer’s.
Fluoride is classified as a toxin and endocrine disruptor, and has never been approved as a drug by FDA. The EPA chief of staff, William Hirzy, with the scientists union have asked for a national moratorium on water fluoridation. There is no established dose for fluoride and it cannot be regulated because an individual’s water intake varies from person to person.
NIH and CDC state that “fluoride is only effective when applied topically to the erupted surfaces, and is not effective administered in drinking water.”
In 2005 the NIH issued a warning stating that fluoridated water, foods and pharmaceuticals are deadly for diabetics, dialysis patients and not be given to babies six months and younger. The Supreme Court of Israel just banned it, 97 percent of Europe does not fluoridate and citizens of Ireland are working to get the fluoride out.
Newburyport’s water department adds a Chinese fluoride waste product, the same one Amesbury citizens voted to take out of their water.
In March, The Lancet officially classified fluoride as a developmental neurotoxin, the same category as lead, arsenic and mercury.
Consider your teeth, your cavities, whether you have dental fluorosis. Consider thyroid dysfunction, diabetes, kidney disease, foggy minds and depression. Consider heart disease, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and cancer, which are all systemic diseases that have increased steadily since water fluoridation was implemented nationwide in the 1950s. Fluorine, a halogen, is one of the most reactive substance on the planet, a toxic endocrine disrupter that bioaccumulates in the body, especially the teeth and bones.
We never knew this, hearing instead that fluoride was good for our teeth. But that was then and this is now!
Five decades have passed and the evidence and proof are overwhelming. Once we know, it is our joint responsibility to right the wrong. Let’s take fluoride out of Newburyport’s water.
V.J. Zanfagna
Pharmacist
Newburyport
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