34 South Main St., Attleboro, MA - (508) 222-7000
Opinion
EDITORIAL: A chance to end NA fluoride fight
Top Headlines The town learned this week that a lawsuit brought by the board of health against the board of public works to stop fluoridating the water will not be heard until May 29. That's more than a month after voters will decide a race for board of health member between incumbent Diane Battistello and challenger John Donohue Jr. The board of health is now split 2-1 against fluoride, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in the 2000 presidential election. Battistello has been a leader of the anti-fluoride movement; Donohue favors fluoridation. Thus, if Battistello wins, the fluoride suit goes on; if Donohue wins, the lawsuit will likely be dropped. Both Battistello and Donohue are likely to talk about other issues in the campaign. Battistello, in fact, never mentioned fluoride in a letter to the editor of The Sun Chronicle about her candidacy published on Sunday. However, fluoride has been by far the hottest topic surrounding the board for several years, with anti-fluoride activists trying usurp the authority of voters by taking fluoride out of the water. The board of health's decision to sue another town board has to be particularly galling to the 59 percent of the electorate who chose to follow the recommendation of the nation's leading health organizations and add fluoride to the public water supply to improve their children's and their own oral health. The money spent defending one town board against another also has to be galling, to all taxpayers. Fluoride foes have continued to use scare tactics in their attempt to override voters' wishes and remove the substance from the water. The latest focus has been on fluorosis, a largely cosmetic condition that affects children who receive highter-than-recommended amounts of fluoridated water. That is not the case in North Attleboro, where the fluoride is only half the amount at which health agencies warn of fluorosis. The nation's leading health organizations - the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the Centers for Disease Control - all enthusiastically support fluoride. Parts of the nation have been fluoridated for more than 60 years with no ill effects. Two-thirds of the nation's public water supplies are now fluoridated, including neighboring communities of Attleboro, Mansfield and Seekonk. It's time the silly campaign against fluoride also ends in North Attleboro. Voters have that chance on April 3.
Post Your Comments Anita Knight wrote on Feb 27, 2007 10:47 PM: " It is important to learn all you can about fluorine and its compounds and complexes. See The Merck Index and look up the element fluorine, then the most often used fluoridation agent: Fluorosilicic Acid. The source is phosphate fertilizer industry that is located near where I live; Central Florida near Tampa, Hillsborough and Polk Counties. Next, call county health department, ask for AWWA Standard for Fluorosilicic Acid B703-06. Read every page including pg 13, an entire page of contaminants. There are no studies using this agent, instead, Sodium Fluoride, pharmaceutical grade is used. What makes this different is that The Merck Index notes fluorine is the most reactive of all elements and will combine with most all of them, and depending on which, determines the toxicity. Oh, by the way, Fluorides are used to enrich Uranium to make nuclear power. " kathleen fontaine wrote on Feb 27, 2007 8:41 PM: " Gee, maybe this newspaper might want to assign an editor who is not compromized on the subject of community fluoridation...
Is it me or does anyone else find it odd that the author of tonight's editorial failed to make note of the fact that Diane Battistello and every other anti-fluoride candidate have been elected to the Board of Health, beating out every pro-fluoride candidates?
The paper's recent editorial against mandating the vaccine Gardasil for 11- and 12-year old girls was right on because the long-term effectiveness and health consequences of this vaccine are as yet unknown.
I guess readers are lucky that a spouse or relative of an editor for Sun Chronicle are not employees for Merck & Co. or we would be reading how Gardasil is the greatest health discovery in the history of the world.
Let's review - editor endorses mandatory fluoride for cavities, but is against mandatory vaccines for cancer... hmmm interesting...
Let's rename this newspaper:
The ADA Sun Chronicle.
" Danelle Weaver wrote on Feb 27, 2007 5:30 PM: " The ADA and CDC have recently published new recommendations regarding infants. Parents should not use fluoridated water to reconstitute powdered formula. Who shall pay for these babies to receive non-fluoridated water as per the ADA and CDC recommendations?
The ADA and CDC can hardly be considered anti-fluoride, so when they issue cautions regarding fluoride, perhaps people should pay attention.
The CDC also states that fluoride is most effective as a topical treatment, NOT systemic.
With 2/3rds of the nation already fluoridated, and many food processing plants located in the major (fluoridated) cities, this means that our foods and beverages are already fluoridated. This is a cumulative effect and is not required to be on the packaging label, so the fluoride goes unheeded in our food supply.
Google USDA Fluoride Food and check out the USDA website for yourself. There is already plenty of fluoride to go around.
If you look at dental statistics in fluoridated areas, you will not see an improvement in dental decay rates. New York City, Tacoma, Detroit, Washington DC, Cincinatti, all suffer from an epidemic of rampant decay. All are fluoridated.
Kentucky has received awards for nearly 100% fluoridation. Yet Kentucky leads the country in toothless adults.
Fluoridation doesn't work.
" dan k. wrote on Feb 27, 2007 9:22 AM: " "Battistello has been a leader of the anti-fluoride movement; Donohue favors fluoridation. Thus, if Battistello wins, the fluoride suit goes on; if Donohue wins, the lawsuit will likely be dropped." .........There you go..VOTE FOR DONOHUE!
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