Activists linked through http://www.infowars.com took the assertion of their personal sovereignty to their local government demanding an end to water fluoridation. In North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill), these individuals have spent over a year and a half standing for liberty. This is their Saga.
Amazing documentary. It shines the light on exactly how incompetent government really is.
Rich Poythress
Hope you guys win. This is Paul Revere in action. Thank You!
swbjamz
Great job on this work you are doing. Thank you. Someone needs to get this stopped, and you guys have thrown yourself in the cogs on the machine. True patriots. Thank you again. I could never say it enough. Thank you.
well done sir….wish i had been in town during the latest meet up.
Only a few minutes into the documentary at this time, but wanted to comment on the scene from the water treatment plant where the foreman explains what the ’4-0-0′ sign on the fluoride tank means, and just states that the 4 means ‘it’s corrosive.’ I wanted more specifics so I looked up that rating…
The ‘Blue’ rating of 4, according to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), details the following warning:
“Materials which upon very limited exposure could cause death or major residual injury even though prompt medical treatment is given, including those which are too dangerous to be approached without specialized protective equipment.” This degree should include:
Materials which can penetrate ordinary rubber protective clothing;
Materials which under normal conditions or under fire conditions give off gases which are extremely hazardous (i.e., toxic or corrosive) through inhalation or through contact with or absorption through the skin.
I’ve finished watching your documentary. WELL DONE, SIR!
Years ago I did a great deal of research on this topic and honestly didn’t expect to learn anything from your video. I was wrong.
It was clear, concise, extremely informative, well thought out and edited. There were none of the things that ‘turn me off’ to a documentary, such overt use of propaganda via ominous music and images.
I would gladly and readily recommend this video to anyone wanting information on water fluoridation!
Simpleton’s observation: why doesn’t any member of a City Council jump right up asa you mention public health concern, like any person in his right mind would do if their own family was at immediate risk? Because it is rethorical until they drop dead in front of their eyes?? I can see how this has become a journey to personal sovereignty because you keep on standing your ground while experiencing the insanity of the system that only works towards the detriment of the people, in any way. The greatest respect for you, I wouldn’t dare go there!
Portland, Oregon — A broad coalition of Portlanders have resoundingly rejected adding fluoridation chemicals to the city’s water supply. By a 61% to 39% margin, Portland voters agreed with the positon of most western nations that there are safer, more effective, and less intrusive ways to promote oral health than adding a chemical linked to thyroid disease, IQ loss, and other ailments to the water supply.
“We are proud of our Portland colleagues who used science and integrity to defeat fluoridation and the public relations blitzkrieg that backed it,” says Paul Connett, PhD, FAN’s Executive Director.
Portland’s clean water campaign was spearheaded by Clean Water Portland (CWP), a broad coalition formed in August 2012 after a newspaper revealed secret ongoing fluoridation meetings with Portland City Council members that were illegally kept off the record. With virtually no public input, the City Council mandated fluoridation for the city on September 12. CWP then led an unprecedented effort that gathered over 40,000 signatures in less than 30 days to halt the mandate and force the referendum vote.
Clean Water Portland – Photo by Mark Colman
Fluoride chemicals are the only chemicals added to public water for the purpose of medication. Most western countries, including the vast majority of Europe, do not fluoridate their water.
“Most of Portland’s media falsely reported that fluoridation promoters had science on their side and that opponents used emotion,” says Connett.
In 2006, the NRC warned that current fluoride exposures in the US may increase the risk of thyroid disease, endocrine disruption, neurological disorders, and bone damage – particularly among people who have medical conditions that increase their vulnerability to fluoride. The NRC called on scientists to investigate fluoride’s role in chronic disease, but government health authorities have opted against funding this research.
Photo by Mark Colman
Portland’s vote comes just six months after voters in Wichita, Kansas soundly rejected fluoridation by a 20% margin, and follows close on the heels of an announcement this April that Israel will be ending its mandatory fluoridation program. In Ireland, legislation was proposed this spring that would make it a criminal offense to add fluoride to public water supplies, and in Canada, the number of people drinking fluoridated water has dropped by about 25% since 2008.
“The 21st century does not take well to anachronistic medical practices, and fluoridation is no exception. This is why more than 120 communities have rejected fluoridation over the past 3 years alone,” says FAN’s Campaign Director, Stuart Cooper. “The trend is towards less fluoridation, not more.”
The breadth of the coalition was reflected in polling data showing bipartisan opposition to fluoridation among democrats, republicans, and independents alike, and overwhelming opposition among communities of color.
Voters who rejected fluoridation were concerned by research showing low-income communities to be at highest risk of fluoride’s adverse effects with virtualy no offsetting benefit. This fact was not lost on Portland’s low-income neighborhoods, which voted overwhelmingly against fluoridation.
Fluoridation proponents had a massive war chest, raising almost $1 million. They used their nearly 4-to-1 funding advantage and media clout to flood Portland with misleading ads and editorials touting fluoridation as an urgently needed tool for solving the “dental crisis” in the city’s poor neighborhoods.
But there really wasn’t a dental crisis in Portland as the Oregon Department of Health’s own reports indicate. Fluoridationists tried to hide this inconvenient truth, pressuring state officials to not publicize new Smile Survey data showing Portland children’s decay rates have improved without fluoridation and, in fact, are better than most fluoridated cites.
“Fluoridationists had no evidence that any Portland child was fluoride-deficient; but did prove that some Portland children are dentist-deficient. We urge the legalization of dental therapists in Oregon who will treat the low-income children who dentists refuse to treat,” says Connett.
TYRONE - Tyrone Borough residents will no longer have fluoride in their water, beginning later this spring.
Council voted 6-2 in a meeting last week to direct the Water Department to begin removing hydrofluorosilicic acid and its associated chemicals.
Concerns about fluoride have been raised recently, including from Water Department Superintendent Ardean Latchford, who said he’d been approached by several borough officials and concerned residents regarding fluoride.
Councilman Mark Kosoglow said he’d watched a documentary revealing fluoride to be a poison and wanted to see it removed from the water supply.
Mayor William Fink also said he’d spoken to some area professionals, including a funeral home director, and learned about the dangers of fluoride.
Council Vice President Christy Ray and councilwoman Courtney Rhoades voted against the motion, saying they wanted time to speak to a dentist before passing it.
“I hope your teeth fall out,” joked Ray to council members.
Interim Borough Manager Phyllis Garhart must post a 30-day notice informing borough residents, and then the fluoride removal can begin, Latchford said.
Tyrone Council is not the first local governing body to reject fluoride; the Altoona City Authority voted in 2007 to do the same, citing concerns about potentially negative health effects and a philosophical opposition to “mass medicating” the population.
Altoona Family Dentistry’s Dr. Katherine Dangler said despite what people may read on the Internet, fluoridated water is a good thing and she’s seen no scientific studies to prove otherwise.
Dangler said she also practiced in Bellefonte and State College, where the water is fluoridated, and said children in Altoona have more cavities because there is no fluoride to harden and strengthen tooth enamel.
While some opponents claim children will still be able to get fluoride from toothpaste or mouthwash, Dangler said, it isn’t going to be enough if it’s not in the water.
If fluoride is as dangerous as its critics believe, dentists and doctors wouldn’t back it, she said.
Latchford said Fink provided him with studies on fluoride, which noted that infants and young children are at risk for fluorosis, a medical condition resulting from overexposure to fluoride at a young age. The American Dental Association said fluorosis has mostly cosmetic effects usually resulting in white stains or streaks on the teeth.
The studies also showed that in children 8 and younger, whose teeth still are developing, high fluoride intake can pit tooth enamel.
Mothers may be mixing tap water with baby formula, Latchford said, unaware that they’re doing something wrong.
“If we take it out” they won’t have to worry, he said.
But Dangler said anything can be dangerous in excess, which is why it’s a dentist’s job to monitor patients and see what products are being used in the home. Not having more fluoride is more costly and has more negative consequences, she said.
Latchford said while he has no vested interest in the outcome, the fewer chemicals he has to add to the borough’s drinking supply, the better it will taste.
And while Latchford said saving money is not the reason for removing fluoride and its associated chemicals, it will result in $5,000 annual savings to the borough or roughly 91 cents per person.
Mirror Staff Writer Kelly Cernetich is at 946-7520.
Do you live in Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill and want to do something about the systematic medication of our public drinking water?
Fluoride Free Triangle NC Announcement!!
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Then join us for a potluck lunch, discussion and planning meetup on April 20, 2013 at the Indian Creek Shelter & Playground!
Why?
There are many individuals in the Triangle area who are deeply concerned about our city’s policy of systematically adding medication to our public water supply. Unfortunately even after a collective 1.5 years of protests, the city councils have not taken our complaints to heart and continue this policy despite the mounting evidence that hydrofluorosilicic acid is detrimental to our health and not beneficial to our teeth.
Therefore we are coming together as a group to discuss how we can work together to affect change and force a referendum vote on this issue.
A discussion taking place on the subpage “Dentists Against Fluoride” caught my eye recently which I found to be intellectually yielding. I felt the discourse between “Kyle” and Steve Slott, an admitted pro-fluoridationist, would also be educational for others who are interested in this topic but might not have seen it with it being buried in the comment section on a less prominent page.
This discussion elaborates on the official justification our government uses to add Hydrofluorosilicic acid to our water supply which I have contended vehemently since the inception of our site. Below I have copied in succinct order the banter between two very different points of view and made its own post.
Judge for yourself which argument makes the most sense and don’t hesitate to comment on the page to weigh in.
For reference I have also included a copy of the MSDS supplied by Durham’s water management department, which support Kyle’s position that an insufficient number of animal studies have been done on Hydrofluorosilicic acid, the chemical used to systematically medicate all citizens in Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill:
No Toxicological Studies, No Carcinogenicity Ratings!
NO Liability to distributor, NOT regulated!
AVOID INGESTION
Kyle
November 20, 2012 at 4:06 am
Applying fluoride topically is in no way detrimental to your over all health. All fluorides used are anthropogenic meaning man made, and they are not even man made purposefully as they are by products of industry. Hazardous by-products that that, literally they must be disposed of properly as industrial waste, but this is avoided when the compounds are sold privately where like magic they become a product: a fake tooth medicine. Fluoride including natures natural fluoride CaF2 is not an essential nutrient meaning you can go your entire life without it. If you want good teeth then avoid acidic foods and drinks, or when in contact with any acidic foods rinse with or drink regular water as fast as you can which will save you from mineralization.
Steve Slott
March 19, 2013 at 11:40 pm
I suppose that “Kyle” is serious when he authoritatively makes the ridiculous statement that all fluorides used are man made? The hydrofluorosillic acid, refined and diluted for use in water fluoridation systems, is extracted from naturally occurring phosphorite rock in a wet process that also yields phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is further refined to be used in fertilizers that are utilized to grow our foods, in soft drinks, and other uses. The HFA and phosphoric acid are co-products of the same process. A “fake tooth medicine”? Well, the first thing I would ask of “Kyle” is that he support this equally ridiculous statement with scientifically accepted studies. As for his advice on how to obtain “good teeth” I would ask that he produce his dental credentials and license to practice dentistry. I would then advise him to contact an attorney to assess his liability for dispensing dental advice under the guise of being authoritative.
Kyle
April 3, 2013 at 5:40 pm
Could you possibly reply with more hate Steve?
Why I stated HFSA or other silicofluorides to be a fake tooth medicine is because they have actually never been tested. The actual fluoride products used in artificial water fluoridation have neither the required animal studies nor the required human studies to determine safety. In the absence of these safety studies, any claims that these products are “safe” are false and misleading. Additionally I say fake tooth medicine because fluoride does not prevent cavities, and rather than typing why I’d prefer to copy and paste as to explain it better and not waste time on replying to your hatred:
“(ref 4) Tooth enamel (essentially calcium phosphate) reacts with all acids to form cavities (see any chemistry text dealing with solubilities). The proton of the acid pulls the phosphate right out of the enamel, and fast. By drinking a sip of water along with the acid during eating, the acid reacts chemically with water immediately to form hydronium ion and thus the enamel is saved. One can use milk or coffee for the same purpose, since they are both non-acidic. Dr. Albert Schatz, Nobelist who discovered streptomycin, found several decades ago that sharks’ teeth with their excessive fluoride would dissolve just as readily in citric acid as ordinary non-fluoridated teeth, laying to rest the hypothesis that fluoride would stop cavities. The dental people (American Dental Association) pushed aside this discovery and Dr. Schatz’ discoveries regarding excessive baby mortalities caused by fluoridation in Chili, South America as insignificant. They returned his mail 3x unopened and would not deal with him.”
As for you saying I make comments “authoritatively”, honestly I’m just trying to ensure that people not be mass medicated and especially not done so without proper warnings. For years warnings have existed that infants not have their formulas made up with fluoridated water and what average person knows that? You label me “authoritative” for wanting to place and end to AWF while promoters like yourself literally shove a medication and poison down peoples throats an in a method which the chemical is absolutely unavoidable! And you want to call me authoritative? Get a hold of yourself Steve, and please look in the mirror.
As for my advice on how to obtain good teeth I stated the short and sweet summary of what Dr. Gerard F. Judd, Ph.D., Chemistry and Fluoride Researcher covers in his book Good Teeth, Birth to Death. And honestly while you ridicule me, dentists continue to promote fluoridation when in fact they have no say in the matter. Dentists see teeth, not the body, and what is fluoride exposed to in AWF? Every cell of the human body of course. We know fluoride devastates the thyroid, and what do dentists know about the thyroid? Nor do they know anything in toxicology, risk assessment, the bones, the brain, the pineal gland and so much more.
I won’t waste time replying to you again Steve so don’t bother antagonizing myself. Thanks.
You are a hero! We are fighting these same organizations here in Portland, OR. Which has turned down water fluoridation 3 times now in it’s history. I am from NC and what you are doing, is prolly the only reason I feel proud to be from there. You keep up the good work brother and wish us luck here in Portland, cos the out come of this election May 21st will affect the whole country. Portland is the last major city that has remained non fluoridated. 1 <3
The Portland City Council voted 3-1 Thursday to move up the date of Portland’s referendum on fluoride by a year, from May 2014 to the May 2013 ballot.
The vote — the last of Mayor Sam Adams’ term — came after nearly four hours of public testimony on the council’s controversial but unanimous September decision to add fluoride to Portland’s drinking water, which also serves surrounding suburbs.
Anti-fluoride activists successfully gathered enough signatures to force a public vote on the issue. But they had expected the referendum to go to voters in May 2014. Thursday, they argued that voters needed more time to learn about fluoride, and they urged elected officials not to rush the referendum.
Commissioner Amanda Fritz, the lone “no” vote, agreed, saying that it wasn’t in the public’s interest to change the date and that voters deserved more time for discussion.
Commissioner Dan Saltzman was absent. But earlier in the week he predicted the outcome and apologized for it.
“I do not believe the date of the vote should be manipulated by council to benefit one particular side in this issue,” Saltzman wrote in a statement.
To understand in a comprehensive manner what transpired in the video above one has to first fully understand the background and context of my effort as an individual to end the practice of fluoridating our public water supplies in Durham, North Carolina.
If you have been following this blog you may already be aware of my journeys as a turd through the bowels of Durham’s city government so if you want to skip to the culminating event, Click Here.
In order to put the culminating event in the proper context what follows is a chronologically succinct account of my efforts which all lead up to the rather climactic events from this past Thursday evening.
My Awakening
In December 2011 I was getting dental work done on my back molars when I was inspired to ask the question,
“Is there Fluoride in the drinking water?”
The dentist replied,
“Yes of course!”
I had always heard fluoride was in the drinking water but never quite understood how drinking it would do any good for just my teeth but not affect other parts of my body – so I asked
“Why is it in the drinking water again?”
The simple yet oft repeated response came without surprise,
“It’s good for your dental enamel.”
The problem with this statement is that it is never accompanied by anything more than anecdotal evidence and in my case, the anecdotal evidence was not so supportive of drinking fluoride. You see, I was diagnosed early on with having a defect known as “Dental Fluorosis” which is the literal degradation and deterioration of dental enamel.
This condition is partly responsible for my needing such dramatic dental work done in the first place but more than anything is indicative of fluoride overexposure from the inside out. This means every other organ in my body is also overexposed which bothers me greatly.
Naturally, such a contradiction of circumstances caused me to question the official rhetoric on this topic and lead me to do a great deal of research which is where the real story begins…
Click for Larger View – These are my teeth which are consistent with the scientific literature on patients suffering from dental Fluorosis.
My Dental Xrays which Show Fluorosis and dental decay
My First Appearance
What I uncovered in my research was so startling I began to wonder who I should tell. At first I was simply alarmed at the idea that something in our drinking water would be so dangerous, but at the time was not mentally prepared for the bureaucracy and cognitive dissonance I would later experience when trying to bring this information to everyone’s attention.
In an almost automated emotional reaction to the research I uncovered about public water fluoridation, I appeared for the first time before the Durham City Council on December 20th, 2011. With little forethought I showed up to bluntly present the damning evidence that Fluoride has been shown to reduce IQ, cause skeletal fragility and bone density issues, as well as cause the condition I suffer from – Fluorosis.
The response to my petition came promptly from Mayor Bill Bell which will not surprise anyone who has any experience with corporate government,
Obviously, the suggestion [to remove fluoride] would be a dramatic change from the way we presently operate, I’m sure the manager and his staff will take it under advisement and come back with a recommendation.”
The “manager and his staff” eventually did take it under advisement and came back with the following recommendation:
In response to my statement on December 25, 2011 the following article was published by Ray Gronberg and the local Herald Sun newspaper which broadly dismissed my miniscule effort to raise awareness. The publication of this article only thickened the plot however because in it certain governmental authorities were prompted to respond to my allegations. Their response which inherently must be deceptive became motivation for me to continue exposing their lies. Kevin Buchholtz, a NC Dept. of Health and Human Services stooge who later plays a role in this saga replied to my petition by saying,
From the State’s perspective trying to respond to every allegation regarding fluoride is challenging and counterproductive.”
My Next Move
Having been totally dissatisfied with the City’s response to my petition, I decided to make things a lot more challenging from the ‘state’s perspective’ and created this website in January 2012. Since then DurhamAgainstFluoride.com has served as a media platform to document my effort and spread the word locally and abroad.
The initial publication about my December appearance at city council combined with the creation of this website was enough to grab the attention of some other fluoride activists who reached out and began coaching me on how to be more effective with my efforts. One such activist was Jeff Green, National Director for Citizens for Safe Drinking water who taught me how to tangle with the government on their terms. The result of my discussions with him manifested in My Next Move, which was a formal request for documentation made on March 22, 2012.
According to the strategy the best way to expose the lack of scientific evidence which supports community water fluoridation is to ask for it! Jeff emphasized that since the evidence is on our side, asking for toxicological studies and other documentation will put The Powers That Be on defense, shifting the burden of proof to the city who then must convince us that fluoridation is such a critical public health benefit. The reasoning was that if no documentation existed, the inability to produce it would cause even the most ignorant in government to begin asking questions internally.
So in January-February 2012 I began making phone calls to the water management department in order to procure the documents I knew did not exist. What transpired was a series of dead ends which eventually produced the following, stunning information:
Systematically bleeds the cocktail of pollutants @ .7 parts per/million into our drinking water as a way of disposing the waste
Even more stunning still was the only formal document ever tendered by the water authority which testifies to the safety of Hydrofluorosilicic Acid. This chemical, which has a HAZMAT rating of 8 Corrosive, is admitted in the city’s OWN literature to cause fluorosis and bone density issues as well as having 0 toxicological studies:
AVOID INGESTION
No Toxicological Studies, No Carcinogenicity Ratings!
NO Liability to distributor, NOT regulated!
Dissatisfied with this as evidence of fluoride’s crucial public health benefit, I appeared on March 22, 2012 to make the city council aware of this absence of information and to formally request they produce the necessary toxicological documentation to the citizens. What happened next immediately told me that I was up against forces with far more motivation to continue this policy than I had ever originally anticipated.
In a premeditated nature The Powers That Be deployed NC Department of Health and Human Services goon Kevin Bucholtz who is the West Region Supervisor for the Oral Health Division. He appeared subsequent my formal request for information to rebut a position I did not even argue. I gotta hand it to Kevin – he really impressed me with such a whirlwind of hypocritical dribble. The most amazing thing is that he came with prepared statements and yet, for 4+ minutes, Kevin rambles on about how the NC Department of Health does not agree with the conclusion drawn by millions of citizens around the world that drinking fluoride is of no public benefit. In the next breath Kevin bluntly admits that hydrofluorosilicic acid can leech lead from the plumbing system and is directly responsible for his own daughter suffering from Fluorosis.
Just so we’re clear:
I attend city council to ask for toxicology studies on fluoride
The state sends their best rep – Kevin – who says in one breath Fluoride is a poison
And in the next, it’s good for you and he’s proud of it
How do you argue with that?
This has to be heard to be believed:
NC Dental Advisor Kevin Buchholtz admits Fluoride Gave His Daughter Fluorosis
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Note: This same appearance was later cited on the Durham Water Management Website in Direct Response to my request for information:
After witnessing first hand the inaction of Durham’s City government I began to firmly understand how crippled the humble minds of our “authorities” really were on this subject and all faith in their willingness to reasonably address this issue was lost.
Since The Powers That Be had acted in such a preemptive and precise manner, I was able to discern intuitively that I should simply try in whatever way possible to raise awareness on this issue and to ignore for a little while the illusion that my appearances at city council affected any great change. So I began exploring other avenues and became more committed to educating by any means necessary.
I began to realize at this point that this is a war of consciousness, spanning time and dimensions so I relied increasingly on pure inspiration and intuition to fuel this effort. I felt increasingly that the effort was past-time fun which lead me to take great joy in the further development of this website, printing flyers, meditating, lucid dreaming and speaking about Fluoride whenever appropriate in conversation. These tiny efforts approached as just a part of regular every day life over time are what I credit with sowing the seeds of later success.
On July 12, 2012 I published this report which cites a 1991 study done in Durham where scientists and the water authority collaborated to study the effects of ending water fluoridation. One of the central pillars holding up the Pro-Fluoridationist argument is the fear tactic that if we stop fluoridating, we will see an explosion in dental cavities. The conclusion of the Durham study makes it an incredibly significant one in that it supports the debunking of this very claim.
Later in this report you will hear a precise example of this from our civil servants who state that children will miss more school if we turn fluoride off, due to the rise in dentist visits from the ensuing tooth decay!
It’s this same crazed fear-tactic which has kept fluoridation ongoing for so long and therefore makes the discovery of this study and it’s implications so worth mentioning in isolation.
The most ironic thing is that I was a likely participant of this study, since it was conducted in Durham during my elementary years with children from the public school I attended. Although any evidence is surely lost in time, it is a distinct possibility which I had to consider and therefore motivated me to send my report to hundreds of government/media/academic professionals in the area.
The study itself measured the incisors of over 1800 gradeschool children in Durham and over the course of an 11 month period, the study concluded no rise in Cavities but a decrease in the level of Fluorosis among participants. For convenience I have posted the video from that report below:
During my research I discovered that the Durham City Council takes their policy directives on public health issues from a separate committee – the Durham County Public Health Board. This meant I had attended the “wrong” body of our government originally which at the time seemed to explain my lack of success. Of course, the government will never point you in the right direction so it only took some months and a lot of personal time to uncover this. This phenomenon where council after committee after working group relegate authority to each other is the leitmotif of our government which is constructed like the layers of an onion for the express purpose that you will hopefully go away.
Nevertheless I was informed that the Public Health Board is instrumental in changing Durham’s fluoridation policy since the city council would vote largely based on the recommendations from this board, who is composed of citizen “experts” from different disciplines. From this point on I made it my goal to educate the Durham Public Health Board, and hopefully get through to enough people to at least bring it to a citizen vote.
During this same time I contacted and began working closely with Steve Daniels & ABC news affiliate WTVD Channel 11, who followed me for a few months while they were producing an investigative report on community water fluoridation.
After some conversations with WTVD it was decided that my next formal step was to appear before the Durham Public Health Board and present the same information I had previously brought to the City Council’s attention.
Thanks to my appearance on September 13 and the presence of local media, the Public Health Board began a formal inquiry into the subject and agreed to look further into the evidence. Despite my reservations that this was just another hoop to jump through, I was quick to accept this as a partial victory since at least the subject was being discussed. When you accept this is a battle for awareness discussion no matter how contrived can only be measured as success.
The reaction was overwhelming for me as well as the WTVD crew. I watched Steve Daniel’s facebook receive thousands of likes, hundreds of comments and I was told personally by the Senior Producer that they had never in her time at WTVD experienced such a passionate response to a story they aired. Anchorman Steve Daniels likewise sent me the following e-mail which pointed to a total success:
Corey –
I have been overwhelmed by the response to the story.
You get all the credit for getting the ball rolling on our end. I appreciate your persistence in pushing us toward revisiting the issue.
We are working on another angle for February.
Let’s stay in touch about your efforts.
-Steve
In response to this negative media attention, the Water Management Department immediately created a job posting for a “Senior Public Affairs Specialist” who would be paid more than $65,000/year to actively combat my efforts to expose these basic truths about public water fluoridation.
Is Durham Water Management Division Preparing Pro-Fluoride Propaganda?
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With the help of WTVD’s report I was immediately put in touch with fluoride activists from around the world. More importantly I was able to network with local activists who also have a passion for this issue. Thus began my cooperation and more formal collaboration with individuals from Wake County & Chapel Hill, resulting in the following reports and the creation of RaleighAgainstFluoride.com:
Building on the momentum almost one month after the publication of WTVD’s report, I appeared again at the Durham Public Health Board to encourage them to stand on the side of social justice in unison against community water fluoridation. This was moments before they adjourned to have a closed-door meeting where they finalized the board’s next steps to address the citizen concerns on public water fluoridation.
Durham Board of Health: “We’re reviewing the evidence”
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The Hearing
On March 14, 2013 Approximately 16 months after my initial appearance at the Durham City Council I found myself before the Durham County Public Health Board a third time in what can only be described as theculminating event. It is my sincere belief that this will serve as a secondary jump point for this effort towards a new, expanded level of awareness for the general public.
Due to the preceding 16 months of work exposing the fluoride deception in my area I was able to force the county health board to formally acknowledge and review this subject which they begrudgingly did in a contrived & organized fashion to simply perpetuate the status quo.
Keeping with the leitmotif of all corporate governments, the Durham county health board relegated their own logical/rational thinking capabilities to another committee of people in the form of an “expert panel.”
To my total lack of surprise, I found that the panel was cherry picked by the City to achieve a self-described “balanced” perspective on this issue. In other words, the 5-person panel were with only one exception uniformly government-paid employees offering only their personal opinion and not any scientific facts whatsoever. Later In this report you may even hear Department of Health Dental Chief Rebecca King actually cite one of her credentials as having been “a supporter of fluoridation.” Can that be put on a resume?
Before the proceedings began I was given 3 minutes to speak and unfortunately was not able to capture video of this. I was unprepared to speak since the health board would not return my phone calls to find out who would be participating on the “expert panel,” so I simply responded in a reactionary way when my time came.
The following is a basic recall of what I stated to the board & the panel who was present:
Hi everyone, my name is Corey Sturmer. For those of you who don’t know me I have been speaking about public water fluoridation here in Durham for a little more than a year now. During that year I have learned a lot about how government works and I hope to continue that today, as I understand we are having a hearing on this important subject known as community water fluoridation.
So to help make this a successful hearing I would like to urge you the board to ask the expert panel the most appropriate questions possible. So I will just go down the list -
Vicki Westbrook vicki.westbrook@durhamnc.gov
Vicki Westbrook – She is the assistant director of the water management department. You should ask her WHERE the water department purchases the fluoride that is added to our water. If she is honest she will have to tell you that Williams Water Treatment Plant buys hydrofluorosilic acid from a fertilizer manufacturer named MOSAIC. Hydrofluorosilicic acid is the byproduct of phosphate manufacturing and the city helps them dispose of it by bleeding it into our water.
So this is an important thing to ask Vicki and I am sure she will tell you this.
Timothy Wright tim_wright@dentistry.unc.edu
Then we have Mr. Tim Wright & Rebecca King who are licensed Dentists. When you are asking them questions be sure to ask if it is in their professional opinion because as a licensed dentist he is not permitted to answer questions about INGESTING fluoride – otherwise he would need to be an internal medicine doctor. Anything else is just his personal opinion and remember, it is not JUST about the teeth since we are drinking the chemical and therefore exposing all of our cells to the effects of it.
I also see on the agenda several public health officials, and I know that the tendency of all city governments is to follow guidance from the public health department. I think it’s important to remember that as much as they may mean well, it is not up to the public health department to decide what goes in our water – that is a decision for ALL of us – You, me and the rest of the citizens. Do not be intimidated by the public health department either because there are dozens and dozens of examples where cities have ignored their state health department to cease fluoridation.
So if one thing could come out of this meeting it should be that we put this to a vote – and let the CITIZENS decide what goes into the public drinking water. It is all of our decision, as health board members, public health officials or citizens living in durham – so we should let the citizens debate the facts and give them the chance to make an informed decision. Thank you.
Setting the Stage for The Big Lie
In order to effectively brainwash the public health board, The Powers That Be carefully selected 5 individuals (4 present) who collectively paint a broad and deceptive enough brush stroke over the subject of water fluoridation so as to tranquilize any inquisitive mind that may see through their ragged arguments.
As if my 3 minute public comment did not ever happen, the chair of the Public Health Board James Miller can be heard below stating that “Anyone who interrupts will be forced to leave” with The Sheriff Deputy waiting patiently in the corner, clearly requested prior to the meeting in case the known antagonist (myself) were to make any public demonstrations of their deception.
Durham County Public Health Board “Anyone who interrupts will be forced to leave.”
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This was an obvious way for the city to keep the panel’s opinion sterile, only to be taken in isolation of all external factors – like factual information from me.
As if insulated from the glaring truths of this issue, the self-concocted pro fluoride cheer-squad began their dreadful & irrelevant rambling on the efficacy of public water fluoridation. Using tired old scripts from the Center for Disease Control, Public Health Department, and American Dental Association which have long been debunked on this site and others, these so-called “experts” offered nothing more than anecdotal evidence and circumlocution of the real core issues to do with the illegal medication of our public water supply.
Vicki Westbrook
vicki.westbrook@durhamnc.gov
Vicki Westbrook: “Durham systematically medicates the water supply ever since a postcard vote in 1957″
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First up was Vicki Westbrook who was mentioned previously in my speech and is one of the first persons I confronted on this journey. She offered a mostly inert presentation essentially reiterating the very basic facts of what the Water Management Department does.
The Water Management Department is simply complicit with whatever the City Council says, who further take their mandates from other bureaucratic institutions like the Department of Public Health and the City’s own health board. As such, Vicki’s position is more administrative than anything so I would not ever expect her to rock the boat. I did find it interesting however when she states that the City of Durham began fluoridating due to a “Postcard vote in 1957,” which should give everyone pause.
Amy Keyworth
Amy Keyworth Presents Irrelevant Information on Public Water Fluoridation
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Next was Amy Keyworth who seems like a bright person but was obviously recruited for dubious reasons beyond her narrow perspective. Amy is a hydrogeologist for the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which means she is an expert on the groundwater of North Carolina. As you can see in the video she presents some comprehensive data on natural fluoride concentration levels in North Carolina’s ground water, but does not draw any conclusions herself. Her data taken as a solitary perspective is presented to the board without any elucidation as to how this relates to the issue I am raising – namely – the medication of our public drinking water with hydrofluorosilicic acid! This should demonstrate either the corruption of the board or complete ignorance of those who picked the panel since groundwater has absolutely nothing to do with the mandated distribution of purchased chemicals.
The reason her presentation was totally irrelevant is exposed later in the hearing right before I am escorted out of the building by the sheriff. The key point which my higher self forced me to explain is that it is NOT naturally occurring fluoride that is added to our water supply and therefore groundwater has nothing to do with this issue.
Amazingly this is not even HIDDEN on the Water Management Website yet it was obscured in the very hearing which I worked more than 1 year to produce!
Rebecca King: “Your teeth are continuously bathed in Fluoride from your saliva thanks to the drinking water”
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Rebecca King is a Dental Advisor for the NC Department of Health and Human Services (Oral Health Division). If you remember from earlier in this saga it was her colleague Kevin Buchholtz from the same division who originally attempted to rebut me during my March 22, 2012 appearance. I wonder if Kevin was not available for this hearing or he was somewhat intimidated by the e-mail I sent him before my first appearance at the Durham Public Health meeting. The following e-mail went unanswered and I never saw Kevin again, not even once:
To: Kevin.Buchholtz@dhhs.nc.gov
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 9:39 AM
Subject: We Are Coming For You.
Kevin,
Your duplicitous endorsement of Fluoride is going to get you in trouble someday.
To Rebecca’s credit she may have one-uped Kevin with her defense of fluoridation so will be hearing from me likewise very soon. I must admit this was a tall order when it was Kevin Buchholtz who, in his own argument, made a tacit admission that FSA leeches lead from pipe systems and gave his own daughter fluorosis.
Rebecca King’s defense of fluoridation will no doubt be one for the books:
“We drink fluoridated water and the trace levels of fluoride return to the mouth in the saliva where it provides topical protection as teeth are continuously bathed by fluoride-rich saliva.”
In a wide-ranging 7.5 minute stream of complete bullshit, local pediatric dentist Tim Wright makes short work debunking hundreds of scientific studies without providing a solitary shred of evidence other than his own highly fluoridated opinion. His three main factors, “Safety, Effectiveness, & Cost” blatantly ignore the self evident ethical and legal problems with mass medication of the population which I point out in this article pursuant existing Federal Drug Administration Laws. As I expected Tim Wright did not offer his professional opinion, only his personal one, since he is licensed as a dentist and not qualified to answer questions about how drinking Hydrofluorosilicic Acid affects the human body.
I expected very little from Timothy the moment I recognized him on the panel.
First – I always take offense when someone as FAT as Tim Wright lectures me about why I should be forced to drink fluoride when he is clearly so reckless with his own body.
Secondly – It immediately occurred to me that he was the one lone doofus defending fluoride in my WTVD report!
According to my sources most people turned down the opportunity to appear on TV in support of Fluoride but Tim Wright volunteered himself. This leads me to believe he is either monetarily invested in the perpetuation of fluoridation or he has constructed such an identity with fluoride through his misguided academic work that he is willing to defend it in a public forum rather than admit the bitter truth.
Before the meeting began I heard Tim Wright whisper to a colleague, “Are you ready to do battle?” as if he is on some kind of team. Timothy – if you really want to do battle and seem to be so wrapped up in pushing fluoride then you should debate me in a public forum on Water Fluoridation. I don’t even need the pretense of being a dentist in order to deconstruct your silly arguments.
Using sweeping generalizations and vague dictums Tim Wright in a most blanket manner discredits ALLscientific criticisms of fluoride ingestion but later admits that “we know fluoride is hazardous in high levels.”
Well Tim, if this fact is known even by the expert panel chosen to defend fluoridation then it is no surprise that the science of DOSAGE is completely lost on your humble mind.
When considering Fluoridation as a preventative medicine via ingestion the key factor which is incredibly lost on these dense people is not whether Fluoride is equitably delivered to the water…The most important factor is the equitable distribution to our human bodies!!
In decades of academic study has it never occurred to this imbecile that we all will naturally drink more or less water than one another?
These most basic facts are either totally lost on Timothy Wright or he is so blinded by his academic brainwashing that he refuses to see how outdated and discredited his perspective has become. Sooner or later the bitter reality will catch up to Dr. Wright and I hope at that point he will offer a public apology to me and everyone else he taught in his ventures as a professor.
I can tell you that I am already waiting for it.
Laura Gerald
Laura Gerald’s Redunant Statements on Fluoridation
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The North Carolina State Director of Public Health was apparently too busy on the 14th to attend and defend fluoridation so I will dedicate very little space debating her vapid and empty written statements. One only has to listen to Rebecca King read the redundant words of Laura Gerald to know instantly which agency’s script is being repeated ad nauseam. Laura’s statements share stunning similarity to Rebecca and Kevin Buchholtz’ testimony so can only be taken as more personal opinions from the peanut gallery. When are these people going to wake up and realize that they are just another person born on the planet like you and me?
I will say that there was a hilarious though pathetic effort made by Director of the Health Board Gayle Harris to use Laura’s African ethnicity as a way to legitimize or somehow overpower past statements made by me in September 2012.
My statements which were referenced previously in this report alluded to civil rights activists Bernice & Alveda King MLK Jr’s Relatives) who condemned community water fluoridation in numerous public statements. If you actually listen to what I say the statements were clearly meant as encouragement to the board to stand on the side of civil rights and social justice, not necessarily because those people were black. By this metric it’s ironically Gayle Harris who is using the race card, whilst reflecting that inner truth on to me by insinuating I made some kind of “assertion” about black people.
Listen below as Health Board Chair Gayle Harris states with pride that Laura is “African American” which somehow must grant her magical powers that make fluoridation a healthy proposition:
Gayle Harris takes a shot at DurhamAgainstFluoride: “Laura Gerald is an African American.”
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The Culminating Event
I did not last very long in the question and answer period. I began to notice some legitimate questions being asked but no legitimate answers being offered in return. I could easily see the deception playing out before me which framed this substance FSA as an inert & natural substance.
The first such question was posed by James Miller, who asked Amy Keyworth if groundwater fluoride was the same substance that is added to Durham’s drinking water.
Her response was that Fluoride is an ion – so therefore it uniformly exists wherever it is found naturally. This might be true in her area of expertise but her lack of contextual information on the policy of water fluoridation is exposed instantly when she and the other experts nods her head “yes” to the question.
The bitter truth which the council hates me repeating is that our city forces each citizen to pay for a Class 8 Corrosive Substance, the waste product filtered off the smoke stacks of phosphate manufacturing, bled at a consistent rate of 1 ppm directly into your drinking water for over 60 years. When one calculates the actual damage done by this practice, it can only be considered a crime against humanity.
The Aftermath
Since I was forced to leave the building and not return, I only had my girlfriend as a mole in the now private health board meeting to capture the event. Unfortunately at the time I was using her phone to record the sheriff escorting me out, so we do not have video or recordings of what ensued after I left. I have decided to dedicate a separate post to recount and detail what happened afterwards according to my girlfriend Charlee’s witness testimony. Stay tuned!
