In October 2014 the California Dental Association gave $45,000 to promote continuation of Healdsburg's water fluoridation program. Why would would a dental trade association give that kind of scratch to oppose a grassroots effort by Healdsburg residents to get fluoridation chemicals out their water? This article from Fluoride Action Network provides one answer.

Fluoridation: Follow the Money
By Carol Kopf, Media Director, Fluoride Action Network

Multi-billion dollar international conglomerates, which benefit from tooth decay and fluoride sales, pour money into organized dentistry which is behind virtually every fluoridation initiative.The American Dental Association (ADA), many of its over 250 constituent state and city associations are benefactors along with other fluoridation-promoting dental groups and schools.

Dentists, inside and outside of government and industry, seem to have vast amounts of money and influence to promote fluoridation. Where does it come from?

The ADA and the ADA Foundation received over $28 million from pharmaceutical companies, dental equipment manufacturers and insurance companies, from 2006 – 2009, according to a January 20, 2010, letter from the ADA’s Chief Financial Officer to U.S. Senator Charles Grassley.

Grassley wants more accountability and transparency between the ADA and industry. The ADA didn’t comply with Grassley’s request to publish its corporate funders on its website. However, Grassley listed them on his own website.

Fluoride-selling pharmaceutical giants listed include: Colgate, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, and others.

ADA’s Seal of Acceptance
Several companies on Grassley’s list paid a “Seal Program Maintenance Fee,” totaling $574,000 for four years (2006-2009). The ADA requires a one-time, non-refundable submission fee before reviewing over-the-counter products ($14,500 per product). If given the ADA’s Seal of Acceptance, they are required to pay an annual maintenance fee of $3,500 per product, according to Jan Lord, Manager, Acceptance Program, ADA’s Council on Scientific Affairs. Approximately 260 items appear on the ADA’s current Accepted “Shopping List.” A large number are fluoride products.

More Legal Financial Exchanges between the ADA and Industry
Sometimes the ADA joins into “Cause-Related-Marketing” with for-profit companies. The ADA gives an example: the William Wrigley Company agreed to donate a percentage of its ADA Accepted chewing gum products to the ADA’s Give Kids A Smile program, according to Guidelines Governing the American Dental Association’s Corporate Relationships.

Wrigley paid the ADA $36,000 to review some of Wrigley’s sugar-free chewing gum studies to get the ADA’s Seal of Acceptance, according to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Gupta writes, “The ADA stands by its seal and told us any company can apply for the seal, as long as the company pays for it.”
Johnson & Johnson gave $900,000 to fund the ADA’s annual session’s distinguished speaker series (2006-2009).

In 2007, Barbara Walters and Lance Armstrong Headlined the ADA’s Distinguished Speaker Series.
Many prominent journalists and politicians have been paid to speak at ADA conventions. In 2013 former President Bill Clinton was the main event. Some might say it’s a good way to buy influence.

Colgate funds the ADA research institute newly renamed after dentist Anthony R. Volpe, who recently retired as Vice President of Clinical Research and Scientific Affairs at Colgate-Palmolive Company.
Colgate’s Volpe and a Henry Schein, Inc. representative serve on the Board of Directors of Forsyth Institute which bills itselfas “the only independent research institute in America specializing in oral health and its impact on overall wellness.” The Forsyth Institute is where Dr. Phyllis Mullenix performed research that found fluoride can cause brain deficits in rodents. Mullenix was fired for publishing her results in a peer-reviewed, respected journal (1), against the orders of her Forsyth boss, as explained in the first chapter of Chris Bryson’s “The Fluoride Deception.”

Members of the dental industry are on Boards of Directors for Dental Schools, other fluoridation promoting groups such as the Children’s Dental Health Project, Oral Health America, Dental product manufacturers are even Friends of the National Institutes of Dental Research.

At the forefront of most fluoridation initiatives are well-meaning but mis-guided dentists who fail to read the literature and are fueled only by the endorsements of dentists at the CDC’s Oral Health Division, or endorsements by dental organizations, or endorsements lobbied by dentists or from other groups and associations. Industry-funded dental groups even lobbied the Surgeon General until she finally caved in and endorsed fluoridation. ...

Article continues here: https://fluoridealert.org/content/bulletin_12-24-13/

For more information about Healdsburg's Measure P and getting fluoridation chemicals out of Healdsburg's water, visit the Fluoride-Free Healdsburg website at https://fluoridefreehbg.org