Milton to add fluoride to H2O
The City of Milton will once again be adding Fluoride to their municipal water sources due to a $20,000 grant from the Florida Department of Health.
Milton had been adding fluoridation to the water since 1989, but stopped in late 2006 when the City Council voted to discontinue it due to an older, unreliable injection system.
According to the World Health Organization, “many communities world wide lack sufficient natural fluoride in their drinking water to prevent [cavities and tooth decay].”
The grant money received by the City will cover the cost of completely replacing the old system and a year’s worth of fluoride, reports Brian Watkins, Public Works Director for the City.
Watkins says the earliest the City will have the new equipment installed and operating is spring of 2008, although the money must be spent by June of next year.
The question to use fluoride or not is a sensitive subject, with opposing viewpoints holding fast to ideas backed up by professionals on both sides of the debate.
When he started in the dental profession 30 years ago, local dentist Noel Spurlock D.D.S relates, “there’s no way we could keep up with the cases of decay,” a reality which he says has changed since then. “[Fluoride] has made more of a difference in my profession than anything,” he says.
The American Dental Association says they have continuously endorsed fluoridation of community water since 1950.
While fluoride has been recognized as an effective way to reduce tooth decay, too much fluoride can result in the mottling and discoloration of one’s teeth, called dental fluorosis.
Others call its use too much governmental control over personal choice, or “mass medication.”
Some even claim fluoride causes bone cancer. In a recent study conducted by Harvard University scientists claim to have found a connection between osteosarcoma (bone cancer) and fluoride, especially in young boys exposed between the ages of six and eight.
Dr. Spurlock says he thinks such studies are conducted using “scientific bias” and contends, “anything in huge amounts can cause cancer.”
He states the amount of fluoridation used in water is so miniscule as to strengthen the teeth, but do no harm. “We’re talking microns.” he says, possibly .25 parts per million. Spurlock says fluoride also saves millions in health are costs.
The City of Milton’s Water System—which encompasses the area north of Whiting Field to Highway 90 and East of Pond Creek to the Blackwater River—receives its water from six wells, all of which will be equipped to receive fluoride injections.
The injection system will provide a small but constant supply of fluoride into the water at each well site, and will be monitored by licensed operators for at least an hour each day of the week to ensure the correct levels are being administered.
In 2006, according to the Florida Department of Health, 77.6% of Florida’s population served by community water systems received optimally fluoridated water.
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| Where did the idea of using fluoride in water come from? Do some history on where the idea started to take root. And then ask yourself wether you want to make your own decisions or have someone else tell you how to be healthy. |
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| Jeff - Jan 16, 2008 04:31:30 PM | Remove Comment |
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| NEW YORK, Jan. 2 PRNewswire-USNewswire -- "Some recent studies suggest that over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth,bones, the brain and the thyroid gland," reports Scientific American editors--January 2008. "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to
shift," writes author Dan Fagin. |
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| Jeff M - Jan 14, 2008 09:57:54 PM | Remove Comment |
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| An EPA scientist directed me to the local utilities department when I asked where did fluoride come from. He said to ask for the American Water Works Association Standard for the type fluoridation agent to be used in my water. I received also the Specifications page which listed heavy metals as arsenic and lead in what the title of the page noted was Commercial Grade. That was 1994. These standards are updated usually every 5 years. The latest one AWWA Standard for Fluorosilicic Acid B703 06 has an entire page of contaminants and now include Radionuclides as uranium and radium 226 228 Alpha and Beta particles.
Then on PubMed recently, is this abstract. Neurotoxicology. 2007 Sept 28 5 1023 31. Epub 2007 Jun 30
Effects of fluoridation and disinfection agent combinations on lead leaching from leaded-brass parts. Notes lead leaching spiked over 900ppb.
We surely do not need any more unanticipated consequences from chemical combinations in our water. EPA nominated in 2000 neurotoxicity studies on Aluminum fluoride that resulted from cooking with fluoridated water in aluminum pots. |
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| Anita Knight - Dec 29, 2007 10:18:11 PM | Remove Comment |
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| No Milton resident is fluoride deficient. In fact, up to 50 percent of US school children are fluoride overdosed, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Dental researchers are advising that children need to cut back on fluoride. Why are dentists not heeding that advice and, instead, forcing more fluoride into children.
The problem today is not lack of fluoride but lack of dental care. To stave off government mandates to force dentists to treat low-income patients, dentists choose to treat the water supply instead hoping to keep government off their backs by putting it on ours.
Take Action to End Fluoridation
Online Petition to End Fluoridation and call for a Congressional Hearing
is at Fluoride Action dot Net |
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| NYSCOF - Dec 29, 2007 08:04:57 AM | Remove Comment |