Dear Readers,
We received a magnificent response to yesterday's fundraising bulletin. From the moment the bulletin went out we were hearing from people all over North America (18 states & 2 Canadian provinces) and from around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and the UK. In all we heard from 67 people - that is more than we heard from in the previous two weeks! In total we raised $2,458 bringing our grand total to $10,478 from 133 donors.
Indeed, a truly magnificent response. We still have a long way to go but your generosity has energized the whole FAN team and has given us renewed hope in this enormously difficult uphill struggle - not only to raise $100,000 from at least 500 donors by Dec 31 but also to rid the world of this wretched practice once and for all. A HUGE thank you to all who have donated so far.
If you would like to keep this momentum going please use the donation and premium details at the bottom of this bulletin, or make an online donation right now using our secure system.
Now over to our campaign director Stuart Cooper to introduce himself and give us news of the number of communities that have ended this practice and hopefully news of more to come.
Sincerely,
Paul Connett, Ph.D.
FAN Director
The Truth is on our Side
Before joining the FAN team a year ago as the new Campaign Manager, I worked in government relations for nearly a decade lobbying and directing campaigns for various nonprofits, industry associations, and businesses throughout New Hampshire and Maine. I have always campaigned for issues that I completely believe in and feel passionately about, and these issues have tended to focus on public health and individual freedom.
When I saw that FAN was looking for a campaign director, I knew immediately that this was an issue I wanted to work on. It was the perfect example of the government overstepping its bounds and taking away health freedom and individual choice. The more I researched fluoridation the clearer it was that both the ethical arguments and the science were on our side. My experience in government has taught me that no matter how controversial an issue, or how big the opponent, when you have truth rather then propaganda on your side, it's only a matter of time before you overcome your opposition. Since joining FAN and witnessing the passion of our campaigners and the leaps and bounds the fluoride-free movement has made this past year, I believe more than ever that it's not a matter of if we will win, but how soon.
In the last 14 months, 34 communities serving a population of approximately 2,674,200 people have ended their fluoridation programs. This doesn't take into account the millions of people who live in communities that voted this year to reject the introduction of fluoride into their drinking water. Here is the list of communities that have rejected fluoridation since Waterloo, Ontario in October 2010, showing that we may have reached the tipping point:
Dec. 12 -- Dieppe, New Brunswick (20,000)
Nov. 19 -- Lake Cowichan, British Columbia (3,000)
Nov. 19 --Williams Lake, British Columbia (11,200)
Nov. 8 -- Amesbury, Massachusetts (16,500)
Oct. 31 -- Lakeshore, Ontario (33,000)
Oct. 25 -- Palmer, Alaska (8,400)
Oct. 18 -- Lawrenceburg, Tennessee (11,000)
Oct. 16 -- Churchill, Manitoba (1,000)
Oct. 13 -- New Plymouth, New Zealand (50,000)
Oct. 4 -- Pinellas County, Florida (700,000)
Sept. 30 -- Spencer, Indiana/ BPP Water (10,500)
Sept. 22 -- College Station, Texas (100,000)
Sept. 12 -- Slave Lake, Alberta (7,000)
Sept. 6 -- Hohenwald, Tennessee (4,000)
Aug. 16 -- Pottstown, Pennsylvania (15,500)
Aug. 15 -- Spring Hill, Tennessee (30,000)
Aug. 8 -- Philomath, Oregon (4,500)
July 20 -- Taber, Alberta (6,500)
July 4 -- Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan (5,000)
June 30 -- Taumarunui, New Zealand (5,000)
June 6 -- Fairbanks, Alaska (80,000)
May 18 -- Naples Village, New York (1,070)
May 16 -- Mount Clemons, Michigan (17,300)
April 21 -- Lago Vista, Texas (6,500)
April 17 -- Mechanicsville, Iowa (2,500)
Mar. 17 -- Marcellus, Michigan (1,100)
Feb. 16 -- Independence, Virginia (1,000)
Feb. 8 -- Calgary, Alberta (1,300,000)
Feb. 7 -- Yellow Springs, Ohio (3,200)
Feb. 7 -- Vercheres, Quebec (5,240)
Jan. 19 -- Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania (5,500)
Nov. 15, 2010 -- Sparta, North Carolina (2,000)
Nov. 4, 2010 -- Tellico, Tennessee (900)
Oct. 25, 2010 -- Waterloo, St. Jacobs, and Elmira, Ontario (103,000)
Total: 2,674,200 people (Approximately)
...and this is just the beginning. Campaigns have sprung up throughout North America and around the world. Every day I receive more than two dozen emails from enthusiastic campaigners asking what they can do to help and how they can start their own campaign.
In the coming months, we expect major fluoride battles in:
...and there are many, many more campaigns and upcoming votes on fluoridation. I wish I could list them all here, but we will do our best to alert you to as many as we can as the campaigns progress.
This year FAN also launched our infant warning campaign. Local infant warning resolutions were submitted to city councils across North America, including in Los Angeles (California), Loveland (Colorado), and Austin (Texas). State-level infant warning legislation was also introduced in New Hampshire and Arkansas. While neither bill was signed into law, they both have generated more support within the state and more legislation for this upcoming session. In fact, in New Hampshire there are two separate bills this legislative session calling for a state-wide prohibition of fluoridation, and both bills have multiple respected sponsors.
I'm also currently working with state legislators in Utah and Kentucky on infant warning legislation language. In both cases the legislators became aware of the issue because of FAN supporters utilizing the Write your Legislator campaign we launched. Other successful write-in campaigns from 2011 include over 10,000 letters to editors sent out, 2,600 letters to state legislators, thousands of letters sent to city councilors around North America, and over 18,000 emails in support of FAN's response to the DHHS proposal to lower therecommended level of fluoride in fluoridation schemes. FAN pointed out that any addition of fluoride was neither acceptable nor necessary and fluoridation should be halted forthwith. Even promoters now admit that fluoride's major benefit (if any) is topical not systemic. There is no need to swallow fluoride and it is reckless to put it in our drinking water. Moreover, the proposed new level of 0.7 ppm is still 175 times higher than mothers' milk and will do little to fight the growing epidemic of dental fluorosis (now impacting 41% of American adolescents) let alone protect bottle-fed babies from the potential of lowered IQ.
Lastly, we have updated many of our advocacy tools and online resources, including:
-50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation
-Guide to Starting your Own Campaign
-Professional Perspectives Film
In the coming year, we plan to expand our advocacy resources considerably, not only to use and share online, but also in downloadable and printable formats. We also plan on continuing to do all we can to create new fluoride-free campaigns, and support existing battles to keep this momentum building at the local, state, and federal level.
If you have benefited from FAN's campaign efforts or materials, or would simply like to see the momentum continue to build against fluoridation, then please consider making a donation to FAN using the information below. Any financial gift, large or small, is much appreciated and will go directly toward fighting fluoridation.
Sincerely,
Campaign Manager
How to Give a Tax-Deductible
Donation to FAN
To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Fluoride Action Network, you can quickly and easily Donate Online.
You can also send a check or money order to:
Fluoride Action Network
82 Judson Street
Canton, NY 13617
To make this fundraising effort more interesting we are offering a number of premiums throughout the month.
Premiums:
1.) Donations of $100 or more will receive a copy of "The Case Against Fluoride" signed by Paul Connett, PhD.*
*Please ignore what it currently says on ourdonation page--we will be changing that message as soon as we can.
2.) Donations of $15 get a choice of one of these great DVD's:
-Professional Perspectives on Fluoridation
-An interview with Chris Bryson, author of the book, "The Fluoride Deception."
(If you have already contributed and want either of these DVDs, email us and let us know.)
Thank you for your continued support of FAN's efforts to end the irrational practice of fluoridation.
Sincerely,
The FAN Team
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