My home county of Pinellas County Florida, the most densely populated in the state, voted to end fluoridation of its drinking water to about 700,000 residents by a margin of 4-3. The move will save taxpayers $270,000 per year.
The vote to end water fluoridation happened despite heavy opposition from dentists who insisted the move would cause more rotten teeth and harm the health of disadvantaged children.
Todd Pressman, a Pinellas County activist, describes it as a mood shift that is occurring across the country with the Tea Party representing only the tip of the iceberg.
The vote attracted nationwide attention likely due to the large number of people affected and the fact that Florida is a swing state and represents the pulse of the nation on many issues.
County Commissioner John Morroni who changed his mind on the issue the last time a vote was taken in 2003, said that the county should not be in the business of doling out medicine to the public any more than the federal government should mandate health insurance.
“People are not dying because they don’t have fluoride,” Morroni said.
Other commissioners who voted against water fluoridation noted conflicting evidence presented by both dentists and national health organizations. They also cited repeated complaints by taxpayers over the years about the overreach of government in putting drugs in the drinking water.
The Safety of Fluoride is Questionable at Best
Activists have lobbied for the removal of fluoride from drinking water for years and this victory in Pinellas County Florida is a huge win for the anti-fluoridation movement.
Even if water fluoridation really did reduce cavities – which is doubtful and it very well may increase tooth problems such as fluorosis (white spots) over the long term – the many health problems associated with exposure to the fluoride levels present in drinking water patently override any such questionable benefit.
Probably the most disturbing complication is that fluoride exposure reduces IQ in children.
To see the research yourself, this link details 76 studies on the reduction of IQ from fluoride.
The other huge side effect of fluoride is the depression of thyroid function.
Hypothyroidism is at epidemic levels in modern society and contributes to weight issues among other serious health challenges.
In a nutshell, fluoride is an enzyme poison. Â
Its presence in the body even in small amounts competes for the receptor sites on the thyroid gland. Â If fluoride occupies these sites instead of thyroid stimulating hormone, less thyroid hormone is manufactured resulting in a slow but steady decline in thyroid function.
Here’s the really scary part.
Fluoride displaces iodine in the body. Â
Without sufficient iodine, even less thyroid hormone will be produced and even taking iodine supplements may not help much if a constant infusion of fluoride is occurring via drinking water, toothpaste, dental fluoride treatments, etc.
In short, water fluoridation is an unmitigated public health disaster.
I applaud the Pinellas County Commissioners for eliminating fluoridation of the drinking water of its citizens. Â
Reference
Hi Sarah,
I was wondering if you had any knowledge on the effectiveness of water filters that remove flouride? I read the Daulton (sp?) may be a good one. Thanks!
Sarah,
I just sent this post to our City Manager, and then asked a few friends to do the same, we’ll see where it goes! 🙂
Kelly
Awesome Kelly! I really hope it helps get that poison out of your drinking water too!
GOOD NEWS! I don’t currently live in your county but I applaud the residents there for an outstanding job! I live with Hypothyroid and it has been known for a long time the flawed studies regarding fluoride and dental health. I do not drink my tap water at all. I use filters. I must watch the amount of Bromide I consume (hard to avoid) as well as fluoride free products. I feel better without these substances and I dont need to pour over professional studies on the issue any longer, I FEEL IT! That’s convincing enough for me. You sure are some die hard residents, kudos for all your hard work and preservation, in addition it is also saving your county money. Win-Win.
I babysat a family that had a well and therefore gave their son fluoride tablets (um…because the water God made is incomplete?). meanwhile, he brushed with “children’s toothpaste” (ie, sans fluoride) because he was too young. *headsmack*
I agree with others on the RO water. I’ve been using RO to make kombucha and have never had any issues. I do add minerals back to the water though. I used concentrace minerals for a while but now use fulvic acid to add back in the minerals.
My kids have never had any flouride in their water or their toothpaste and they have beautiful teeth with no cavities.
How old is your culture? It takes a number of months for RO water to kill the kombucha culture. The folks I know who tried RO water – it killed the culture every single time but it took a number of batches for this to happen. First the new baby cultures started to get thinner and thinner and then stopped producing a baby or fermenting at all.
My original culture is now over 10 years old brewed only on (filtered) well water.
Another problem with RO water is that it concentrates contaminants. For example, if RO filter removes most of the fluoride, what is left is concentrated and a higher amount than you would expect given that it takes a number of gallons of water to produce a single gallon of RO water.
For example, RO systems remove up to 90% of fluoride at best. If it takes 5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of RO water, then you have only removed about half of the fluoride in the final analysis. That’s still a lot left!! Too much for my comfort level. Not to mention how incredibly wasteful RO systems are given how much water it takes to produce RO water.
Could you provide the research behind your data?
Thanks for the good news!
Most people are unfortunately unaware that so-called public health measures such as fluoridation (and vaccination!) are organised criminal enterprises dressed up as disease prevention. They also have no idea that a tube of fluoridated toothpaste contains enough of this rat- and cockroach poison to kill two small children if they were to ingest its contents. Thanks to the insidious and all-pervasive brain-washing we now live n a moron society in which junk science is used to perpetuate the criminal activities of the psychopaths who profit from these schemes/scams.
Densely populated Florida county rejects water fluoridation. YAY! http://t.co/Q4qh2ayw
Densely Populated Florida County Rejects Water Fluoridation – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/RbtSj578
Hahahaha! Did the dentists not read the report a couple years ago from the ADA stating the floridated water has no effect on reducing cavities?
I wish Brevard would not. I have called and they keep saying its for health. Fluoride also kills the good bacteria in your gut along with lowering IQ. We paid a lot of money for our water filter to take out the fluoride, but it’s everywhere else.
Oh wow, Mary. If you happen to know that link, please post!
Yay, Florida! via thehealthyhomeeconomist and Cultured Mama http://t.co/cg7SUxwb