By Dr. Mercola
An Inconvenient Tooth, a documentary by Guy Wagner about
fluoride, premiered at City Hall in Portland, Oregon on
September 6, 2012, the same day a public hearing was held before
the five-member City Council about whether or not the city
should fluoridate its water supplies.
As reported by The New York Times:1
"Mayor Sam Adams, who backs the fluoridation plan and
has one of five votes on the Council, comes firmly down on
the side that says Portland must address dental care for
everyone if its progressive goals and self-image are valid.
'It's about health equity, it's about social
justice,' he said in an interview. 'Fluoride is a means to
an end,' he added. 'I hope that folks, whether they agree
with me or not, understand that my intentions are to help
those Portlanders that have no voice in this process.'
Some opponents of fluoridation have lobbed that kind
of reasoning right back into the laps of the commissioners.
'I don't appreciate you trying to alleviate your
white guilt by putting toxins in our water,' Frances
Quaempts-Miller, who described herself as mixed black and
Muscogee Indian, said in testifying at the public hearing
before the all-white Council of four men and one woman.
Who is empowered to make the choice for Portland has
become part of the debate as well. Fluoridation efforts have
failed at the ballot box here, most recently in 1980.
And two other members of the City Council, in
addition to Mr. Adams, who is not seeking re-election in
November, said even before public testimony was taken that
they planned to vote for the plan – making a majority – when
it goes before them..."
A Case of "Big Brother Knows Best"?
The undemocratic process adopted by the council received
nationwide media coverage, and for good reason. So far, citizens
have already voted 'no' on water fluoridation for Portland on
three separate occasions, clearly demonstrating the public will
on this subject. This time, more than 275 residents testified at
the public hearing, according to The New York Times,
with more than 60 percent of them speaking out against the
practice. The pro-fluoride lobby were unfairly given a full hour
to present their case before the council, while those in
opposition were given no time.
In the end, on September 12, the council stuck to their
announced game plan and approved the plan to add fluoride to
Portland's water supplies by March 2014, despite the strong
opposition from residents, who asked for a referendum. Their
message: "Public Water, Public Vote." According to The
Huffington Post,2
the opposition will start collecting signatures in an effort to
force a referendum.
"There is no question that we are going to need a lot
of financial and volunteer support to make this happen, but
we are seeing a major backlash to how the City Council has
handled this," said Kim Kaminski, executive director of
Oregon Citizens for Safe Drinking Water.3
While it can certainly be frustrating, there's no doubt we
need to open the channels of communication on the issue of water
fluoridation. The argument that water fluoridation has been done
for over five decades and doesn't appear to have had a
detrimental impact on health simply isn't not good enough...
There's just too much evidence to the contrary. For example, 34
different studies4
support the contention that water
fluoridation lowers IQ in children.
In fact, there are many scientific studies showing the
direct,
toxic effects of fluoride on your brain, thyroid, bones and
joints, it's surprising that the fluoridation lobbyists have
been so successful in convincing the medical (and dental)
communities that fluoride is safe and effective. Most refuse to
consider the skyrocketing increase of cognitive decline in
adults (Alzheimer's and various dementia's), and
behavioral issues in children (ADD, ADHD, depression and
learning disabilities of all kinds) and the possible link to
fluoride.
One of the central issues though is FREEDOM. Fluoride is not
a nutrient. The fluoride put into drinking water is not a
prescription drug, but an industrial waste product. However, it
is put into the water as a "drug" to help oral health, and it is
done without the consent of those receiving it. Even if you
accepted the premise that it works systemically, there is no
justification to force it on people under the premise of
slightly lowering tooth decay as everyone has the option of
using it topically as a toothpaste if they so choose.
Please Help Portland's Referendum Campaign
The Portland referendum campaign to give voters the right to
decide on fluoride has just 30 days to gather 20,000 valid
signatures in order to take the decision out of city council
hands and put the issue on the ballot.
They've had an incredible community-wide response, but due to
the secretive nature of the city council's actions, they've had
very little time to create a political action committee and
build a massive volunteer network from the ground up. They've
trained over 200 volunteer signature gatherers so far, but they
won't be able to succeed on volunteer efforts alone.
They've put together a team of professional signature
gatherers with a highly experienced manager. If they can
continue paying the team, there's no doubt they will succeed in
getting this issue to the ballot. This is where YOU can help.
The campaign is in urgent need of donations to achieve their
goal, so please, make a donation at
www.cleanwaterportland.org/donate/ to donate today, or send
a check to:
Clean Water Portland PAC
408 SE 6th AVE
Portland, OR 97214
© Copyright 1997-2012 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
for full article go to:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/25/oregon-water-fluoridation.aspx?e_cid=20120925_DNL_art_1