Sebastopol's Awesome City Council Votes 5-0 to Oppose County Water Fluoridation Scheme

[Peacetown Jonathan]

The news just hit the home page of the PD, article by their EXCELLENT Mary Callahan, linkable here,
and pasted below

Last night's meeting went late and I joined more than a dozen citizens speaking during public comment, including two area dentists. I have never seen every public commenter agree so clearly as last night. Even though there are no plans to fluoridate water in Sebastopol, we drink water in the rest of the County, many friends and family live there, and the fluoridated water might seep onto, and someday adversely impact, Sebastopol's water system

Just minutes before the meeting commenced, County Supervisor Chair David Rabbitt texted a request to Mayor Jacob to NOT DISCUSS this issue until the County had "concluded more studies." As a practitioner of responsive government, and a believer in transparency, dear Mayor Jacob read the text aloud to his fellow council members and the public.

We were LIVID!

During public comment, Our great local dentist Dr. Silvano Senn, with 34 years of experience and an expertise in toxicology, talked about how hazardous fluoridated water is--and how it does nothing to assist in the health of teeth, when INGESTED. He recommends dental rinses and fluoride in toothpaste. He noted that recently the only major communities to cponsider ADDING fluoridation, Portland and Wichita Kansas, voted, in public referendums, not to do so, after voters were educated about the true cost of fluoridation (and--my note--the corruption of the American dental Association)

I spoke about how fluoridated water is not recommended for children under two, or pets. In other words, our County's fine local water system will no longer be safe to drink, and our County will pay $973,00 EVERY YEAR and $9 million to make this unhealthy change.

In response to David Rabbitt's comments that our city should not make any comment because the County was still studying this issue (and spending our freaking tax dollars to do so!) I noted that

There are more people drinking fluoridated water in the United States than the rest of the world combined.
There is no difference in tooth decay between western nations that fluoridate their water and those that do not.
How's that for a study, Mr. Rabbit?

I was followed by Thomas Bonfigli, who brought in a similarly CONCLUSIVE report about Kentucky. That sate, he noted, led the nation in being among the first and most extensive to fluoridate water. And today, 60 years later, they LEAD THE NATION IN TOOTH DECAY.

Others spoke wonderfully about the impact on our ground water, thyroid conditions. etc. I hope some can post their comments below.

After the comments, Council Members talked about how to strengthen the wording of the fine letter, scripted Sarah Gurney and Michael Kyes. The they voted 5-0 to pass and send it.

Here's the PD article from their website:

The Sebastopol City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to join the city of Cotati in opposing fluoridation of Sonoma County's drinking water, even if its own water supply would not be directly affected.
The 5-0 vote came despite a written, last-minute plea from county Board of Supervisors Chairman David Rabbitt, who asked the council to hold off on its discussion pending the completion of ongoing engineering, financial and wildlife studies related to the fluoridation proposal.
Study findings should be available later this year, in addition to results from an upcoming survey of local kindergarten and third-grade students and what they reveal about what Rabbitt called “a 'silent epidemic' of dental disease.”
“It is the Board of Supervisors' opinion that to weigh in without the benefit of the information from these actions would be imprudent,” Rabbitt wrote.
The county is considering fluoridation as part of a multi-pronged effort to address an incidence of tooth decay that exceeds the state average, according to a 2009 county survey of local school kids.
The 2009 survey found that more than half of Sonoma County third-graders had a history of dental decay, local health officials said.
Fluoride, a chemical compound, has been introduced in small amounts into the U.S. drinking supply since 1945 to improve dental health. Three-quarters of Americans on community water systems now get fluoride in their water.
The practice has been backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Surgeon General, the World Health Organization and the American Dental Association, which called water fluoridation “the single most effective public health measure to prevent dental decay.”
But a growing chorus of skeptics across the country opposes fluoridation as both unnecessary and potentially dangerous. Among the various evidence they cite are warnings even on toothpaste tubes that caution against ingesting too much of the product.
The city of Sebastopol has an independent groundwater system and would not be directly affected by fluoridation of drinking water provided by the Sonoma County Water Agency to about 350,000 Sonoma County consumers.
City officials have nonetheless raised concerns about fluoride leaching into local waterways and are opposed to paying for treatment of fluoride-tainted wastewater through their partnership in the regional waste water treatment system.
Members of the public, including two local dentists, also challenged the efficacy of fluoridated water in fighting tooth decay. They voiced concerns about the potential affects on thyroid function and other health factors, and raised the specter of environmental pollution from wastewater still tainted with fluoride, as often happens with other pharmaceuticals that pass through treatment processes.
Councilman Patrick Slayter said Tuesday that divining the truth between competing opinions on fluoride was beyond his ability at present, but said he had a definite issue with the fact that consumers of fluoridated water would have no choice in the matter.
His colleagues on the council agreed.