APRIL 26, 2013
Dear Readers:
Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that seeks to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposal to phaseout sulfuryl fluoride as a food fumigant from taking effect.
This bill, backed by Dow AgroSciences and their friends in the pesticide and food industies, is titled the the Pest Free Food Supply Act (H.R.1496). It's sponsored by Representative Tom Graves (R-GA), and if approved it will keep the highly toxic fumigant on your food to protect profits over children's health.
In 1996 the U.S. Congress passed the landmark Food and Quality Protection Act, known as FQPA, that provided tougher protections for infants and children from pesticide risks. It was this very act that allowed FAN to challenge the permitting of sulfuryl fluoride, and the grounds on which we won. Specifically, FQPA says that the EPA has to take into account aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical. In this case, it's fluoride, as sulfuryl fluoride breaks down to fluoride in the human body. One of our many arguments was that U.S. children are overexposed to fluoride. The most recent confirmation of this came from the CDC when it reported that 41% of children ages 12-15 have dental fluorosis, a biomarker for fluoride over-exposure.
To get the full story, please visit FAN's webpage on the sulfuryl fluoride legislation:
Click on picture for more info
TAKE ACTION: Sign FAN's Change.org petition today to let Congress know that fumigating our food with sulfuryl fluoride is unsafe, unnecessary, and unacceptable.
QUEENSLAND VICTORY
This week, another regional council in the state of Queensland, Australia voted to reject fluoridation, making it the 13th regional council to end fluoridation since the state government ended the fluoridation mandate last December. Cassowary Coast Regional Councillors voted 6-1 against water fluoridation despite $700,000 having already been spent on new fluoridation equipment in Innisfail, the largest city in the region. Even though tax dollars had already been spent on new infrastructure, a phone poll of Innisfail residents showing that 63.7% opposed fluoridation.
In response to the domino-effect of communities ending fluoridation now that they have the authority, six national Australian health organizations have created a coalition to lobby the Commonwealth to pass legislation stripping control away from local and state governments by forcing fluoridation on the entire nation with a federal mandate. This is clearly an act of desperation by the pro-fluoride lobby, and it shows just how willing they are to trample upon individual consent, local control, and Democracy in the name of forced artificial fluoridation.
PORTLAND UPDATE
The Clean Water Portland (CWP) campaign is making amazing progress in their efforts to keep their city the largest in the U.S. without fluoridated drinking water. Late last week they announced that the Portland NAACP chapter (the oldest branch west of the Mississippi) voted to oppose fluoridation. Meanwhile, the pro-fluoride lobby was getting media attention because it was discovered that they where "rewarding" minority groups that endorsed fluoridation with over $140,000 in payments. Clean Water Portland, on the other hand, hasn't rewarded any of their endorsers.
Also last week, CWP held a press conference with more than a dozen health professionals present to unveiled their coalition of over 150 local physicians and public health experts who publicly oppose fluoridation.
This week there has been even more big news. Local television news station KATU's fact-checking team, called the Problem Solvers, did an investigative story on the claimed benefits of fluoridation. Their goal was to look at the most recent 3rd grade dental survey conducted by the state of Oregon every 5 years. The report was due this March, but for an unknown reason had yet to be released by the state. When they found out that the survey showed a reduction in dental caries in Oregon, they asked for the raw data. The state blocked their attempts to get the full report, and it took a Freedom of Information Act request to finally obtain the full survey. The results of the survey conflicted directly with the claims made by fluoridation proponents, thus raising the question, why was this survey hidden from the public and why are state officials still making claims in conflict with the new data?
WATCH THIS MUST SEE TV REPORT BY KATU
Clean Water Portland needs your help. This weekend they will be canvassing and doing literature drops. If you can volunteer, please offer a helping hand. If you don't live near Portland, you can still help. They are in the process of combatting pro-fluoride propaganda with their own online, telephone, radio, and billboard advertisements. Ad campaigns are crucial, but are also expensive. If you can offer any support for CWP in these final weeks of what is the most important fluoridation campaign in the U.S. right now, please do so. A victory in Portland is a victory for all of us. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Stuart Cooper
FAN Campaign Manager
QUICK LINKS
More Info on Sulfuryl Fluoride Read the Press Release Sign Our Petition
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