That’s what the residents of Edgartown get when they turn on a faucet. Cool, clean water without chemical additives. The Edgartown health department wants to add this hazardous byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry. That byproduct is fluoride. Fluoridation chemicals are largely obtained from the wet scrubbing of the inside of smokestacks at fertilizer factories. By law, this byproduct cannot be dumped into the sea.

Those who promote and sanction fluoridation in the United States and other countries lack the answers to basic questions, yet it is still imposed on millions of people. Millions of people are being exposed, essentially being medicated without knowledge of the possible dangers from fluoridation.

It is often argued by proponents of fluoridation that it is delinquent behavior for children to be denied exposure to a substance that is supposed to be beneficial to their healthy development. However, you are not depriving anyone by not medicating their drinking water. Fluoride is widely and inexpensively available in many forms including tablets, toothpaste and rinses. It is a far greater abuse and economic burden to put upon members of the public (including low income families) who do not want this added exposure to a hazardous substance. By cities and towns fluoridating their drinking water, they are forcing them to choose between purchasing expensive and potentially cancerous BPA-ridden plastic bottled water, or installing costly filtrations systems. It will also be almost impossible to avoid even if a household has a filtration system. It will be present in all food, tea and coffee served in the town. It will be used to water commercial and private agricultural crops. It will be used to bathe, shower and swim in. Even with filtration, only 85 per cent is removed.

Promoters of fluoridation say there is no debate. Some say that debates and public hearings give the vocal minority a forum to spread misinformation and fear. No scientific subject should ever be beyond debate. French writer Joseph Joubert wrote, “It is better to debate an issue without resolving it, than to resolve an issue without debating it.”

In the mid-20th century promoters of fluoride recognized that the ingestion of fluoride can cause dental fluorosis (increased porosity of the tooth enamel and spotting); however, they were willing to take the chance. People with impaired kidney function are much more susceptible to the toxic effect on those tissues. There are higher incidences of osteosarcoma in boys who drink fluoridated water between ages six to eight. There have been recent studies that have shown a correlation between ingesting fluoride, and higher instances of Type 2 diabetes within a population. Even the back of your toothpaste tube will tell you to call poison control if you ingest the product. Studies showing the dental benefits of topical fluoride show 18 per cent reduction in decay — that translates to one half of one tooth surface out of a possible 128 in the average mouth.

When you place your vote in Edgartown on April 12, let it be an informed and educated one. We, as Edgartown citizens are so fortunate to have access to such pure water, please consider long and hard before you attempt to change that.

Some of the information in this letter can be found in the book The Case Against Fluoride, by Paul Connett, J. Beck and W.S. Micklem.

Kenny Ivory

Edgartown