Fluoridated water is part of a bleak world of industry, compulsion, mass centralized systems, social confusion and toxic perils. Pure water is an ideal pursued by the reasonable and free man. (Illustration by David Dees)

Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., residents should have a choice whether to ingest fluoride – and the chemicals that accompany it. Their water company is considering the matter prior to a July 19 vote on ending the injections.

Pharmaceutical grade fluoride products are already available at your dentist or on the toothpaste shelf if people wish to have them.

By Karyn French

Many people want to avoid them based on personal health concerns cited by the National Academy of Sciences and thousands of physicians and other medical professionals.

Unethical pre-emption of private choice

No one should be forced to ingest a drug through the drinking water, violating their right to Informed consent. No federal or state law or county rule mandates the use of fluoridation chemicals in our water.

There is NO reason for municipalities to take responsibility for dental health and pre-empt private medical decisions.

➤ No other medicine is delivered through the water.

➤ We drink eight times the pea-sized amount of fluoride in toothpaste, yet with no warning to call poison control if ingested

Inefficient methods

COSTS  — One percent of municipal water is ingested. Ninety-nine percent of all fluoridated water goes down the drain through toilets, showers, laundry, gardens, lawns and car washes.

Even the 1 percent that’s swallowed is ineffective.

The North West Utility District spends $20,000 per year on fluoride and corrosion control of its equipment. Only $8,000 of that expense is for the chemical. Therefore $19,920 goes down the drain and does not accomplish what fluoridation ostensibly pretends.

SAFETY — Soddy-Daisy’s water company adds hydrofluorosilicic acid that contains lead and arsenic. The town’s fluoride distributor gives us industrial grade (not pharmaceutical grade) byproduct from the phosphate fertilizer industry.

There are NO safe levels of lead and arsenic, the EPA has determined.

In the U.S., fluoridation chemicals must be disposed of as hazardous waste if not sold for fluoridation.

Ineffective

The National Institutes of Health-funded Iowa study (the most comprehensive ongoing review) found fluoridation’s benefits “are mostly topical (not swallowed) ***. [R]ecommending an ‘optimal’ fluoride intake is problematic.”

➤ The CDC acknowledges fluoride’s “actions are primarily topical for both adults and children.”

➤ World Health Organization data indicates fluoridated and non-fluoridated populations have essentially the same cavity rates.

➤ The Cochrane Report (the gold standard for evaluating effectiveness) in 2015 found virtually all studies supporting fluoridation were at high risk of bias and not high quality studies.

On July 19 the board of the North West Utility District will vote on a bid to halt injecting fluoride into the water of its 7,000 customers. The board is requesting public comment at this email portal.

Karyn French is a registered nurse who lives in Brentwood, Tenn., and runs the TN Coalition for Safe Drinking Water.

Developing Chattanooga-area story