Do you know that the city of Asheville is contaminating the water that most of us drink with a strong neurotoxin, sodium fluoride? Fluoride is dumped into our drinking water in a misdirected attempt to prevent tooth decay. Residents pay money for this. Why? The medium for transfer is really inappropriate; this stuff was never meant to be ingested. How much stays on our teeth? There is very little actual evidence to prove fluoride works, and enough evidence to make it doubtful. In the meantime fluoride creates problems with brain function, decreased immunity, possible links to cancer and fluorosis (a symptom of too much fluoride).
Please, look this all up at nofluoride.com, go to the Fluoride Action Network or just Google “fluoride toxicity,” and you will see ample evidence of what I say. The Centers for Disease Control and EPA are just starting to look into this issue because they are getting information that links lowered IQ with even small amounts of fluoride consumption, especially in children.
While we wait for fluoride to be removed, we can install reverse-osmosis water filters or distill our water: These are the only guaranteed ways to remove fluoride. Even bottled water can be just filtered tap water, so be very careful of your sources.
The city of Brevard had their fluoride removed and so can we. Go to Asheville City Council and tell them of your concerns. Talk to the Asheville Water Resources Department; tell them we do not want this dangerous chemical in our water and to remove it for our children’s sake. We are a very progressive, forward-thinking community that is striving toward health and well-being. This would be a great place to prove this and be an example for other communities. Let’s start a “no fluoride” campaign for our beautiful city and make this a healthier, happier place to live.
— Dave Metz
Asheville
I discovered recently that flouride reduces fertility and is thus a low grade municipal contraceptive, which is probably why they put it in the water to begin with, as teeth have never been important enough to have motivated leaders to fool with water. Anyway, that makes Flouride water environmentally essential and thus in need of defending.
http://www.fluoridation.com/sperm.htm
Dave,
You’ve made some good points about fluoride’s dangers and bring up a legitimate question as to why it is still being added to our water.
Although the CDC and ADA still promote that it is “safe,” and seem to believe that the benefit to tooth decay is worth it, the EPA is not so sure.
Recently, the EPA has been questioning the levels added to water and have noticed a trend that shows that the currently accepted levels are dangerous, especially to children. They are also examining removing fluoride from pesticides, due to the health problems that arise from over-fluoridation.
http://www.rodale.com/fluoride-drinking-water
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i03/8903notw3.html
There is still some debate about whether fluoride’s benefits are worthwhile. Even proponents of its use are now recognizing that it can be toxic in too large quantities. The fact is, fluoridated toothpaste when not ingested is ample to gain the benefits of fluoride without adding the negative consequences. Even then, children should be supervised when brushing so as not to ingest it, and should only be using fluoride after the age of 2.
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/regulatingcontaminants/sixyearreview/upload/2011_Fluoride_QuestionsAnswers.pdf
There is a wealth of information about the negative effects of fluoride from the Fluoride Action Network, which is working to cease the addition of fluoride to water.
http://www.fluoridealert.org/hp-epa.htm
You mentioned Brevard, and being from that town I have a few more details to add. The city of Brevard removed fluoride from their drinking water in Aug. of 2007 due to the efforts of one elderly man, Ed Daigle, who did his research and presented it to the city council. A couple of articles describe his efforts. Part of what convinced city officials was that it saved them about $5000 per year to discontinue adding fluoride. Ed also gave evidence that fluoride is medicine, and advocated for people having a choice about whether or not they wish to consume it.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/341809/small_north_carolina_town_removes_fluoride.html?cat=5
This other article on Ed includes the expert opinion of a research triangle dentist who equates adding fluoride to water in order to prevent tooth decay to adding sunscreen to water to prevent sunburn. It is meant for topical use, and there really is no purpose in ingesting it.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news&id=5750692
If anyone is concerned about the fluoride levels for their part of the county, they can find details on the CDC website. Chances are, if you have treated water, it’s got fluoride.
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/MWF/Index.asp
Hopefully this change can be brought about. In the meantime, installing a filter to your house can help, but only if it’s reverse osmosis. Carbon filters do NOT remove fluoride. If you’re like me and rent, or can’t afford to redo your system, consider getting refillable containers of either distilled or reverse osmosis water from EarthFare or another source. It’s fairly convenient to refill when you get groceries, and only costs about $0.50 per gallon.
There are filter alternatives for flouride besides R/O and distillation. I mentioned a brand in an earlier post, but it wasn’t published. So those interested will have to do their own research.
While I started to write about my feelings that you are on some kind of empty soapbox, and that you might as well be complaining about the pollution in our rain, I stopped and thought better about it.
I may not believe flouride to be an evil thing, just like I don’t hate on chloride in the tap water, but that may be because they brainwashed too many science classes into me in junior high. However, if there is hard scientific evidence that this is a factor in lifespan defects, health problems, and cost issues, then it is at least important that you raised our awareness to this issue.
It is far too costly for most families to afford brita filters, let alone bottled water. Also, it is not something most can avoid, city water. At least our water doesn’t taste like it just came out of the Ohio River!
Despite being too concerned myself with issues such as unemployment, high dropout rates, infant mortality, and social security, I commend you for supporting this issue.