Letter: Say ‘no’ to fluoride

Say ‘no’ to fluoride

Dear Editor:

On May 21, Portland, Ore., voters reversed a unanimous decision by their city council to add fluoridation to their water supply by an astounding 61 to 39 percent.

This was in spite of the pro-fluoride lobbying group spending almost a million dollars (outspending the opponents by 4 to 1) to defeat the measure. I wonder what Portlanders know that Aspen doesn’t?

Six months ago, fluoridation was also rejected by voters in Wichita, Kan., by a 20 percent margin. In April, Israel announced it will end its mandatory fluoridation program, and Ireland has proposed legislation that would make water fluoridation a criminal offense! Canada has also seen a 25 percent drop in fluoridation programs over the past five years as a result of increasing public awareness about its associated dangers. According to Bill Hirzy, a chemist in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Toxic Substances, water fluoridation remains a government policy because of “institutional inertia (and) embarrassment among government agencies that have been promoting this stuff as safe.” Don’t you think it would be wise for us to look at this issue through scientific inquiry rather than the emotional mythology that well meaning people have promulgated?

Jon Busch

Aspen