Getting the facts right
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To the editor:
In the Oct. 17, 2012m edition of the Pine Island Eagle “Letters to the Editor, Mr. Dennis Ward, the vice President of the Greater Pine Island Water Association, referenced the National Academy of Sciences – National Review Council 2006 report on artificially fluoridated drinking water standards with the following false and misleading statement: “Their study conained 54 (514) pages and many pages and charts. From their observations you can conclude that: at the optimum level there is no problem with fluoride on the liver, kidneys, skeleton, arthritis, thyroid, pineal gland, and only very mild or mild dental fluorosis.”
The facts of what is actually presented in the report are quite different. The NAS-NRC report establishes in chapter two that children from birth to 2 years of age who drink water that is fluoridated at the .7 milligrams per liter level that is proposed by the GPIWA, are exposed to .05 to .13 milligrams of fluoride – per kilogram of body weight – per day. In chapter eight of the report, the NRC establishes the fluoride exposure level that causes thyroid disruption in humans as this exact same range of .05 to .13 milligrams of fluoride – per kilogram of body weight – per day.
Since the daily fluoride exposure range for children under 2 years and 11 months of age is exactly the same as the exposure range that causes thyroid dysfunction in humans, the valid conclusion is that these children will be immediately harmed by drinking water fluoridated at the same level proposed by the GPIWA. Children over this age are exposed to a .02 milligram range that causes thyroid dysfunction also, which places many of them at immediate risk as well.
Dennis Ward’s claim that we can conclude that fluoride is safe at the GPIWA’s “optimum level” is therefore only valid if we omit the safety of children as worthy of consideration. This information is known to Mr. Ward as it is the subject of a notification letter that I presented individually to the entire board of directors at the last GPIWA meeting.
In addition to this immediate threat of harm to children, the NRC report concludes that fluoride accumulates in the organs of all people exposed to it, causing possible long-term harmful health effects in everyone.
At our website, citizensforsafewater.org, water association members can follow links to specific parts of the NRC report that are embedded into the text of the articles describing the information above, and therefore read what the NRC has reported for themselves. The full text of the letter that I presented to the GPIWA Board of Directors is also available on our site, and contains references that are linked to the NRC report.
Those members who are willing to validate this information, and who feel that the safety of children is worthy of consideration, will soon have the opportunity to vote on this issue. I urge them to do so accordingly when they receive their ballots.
Ronald Parker
President Citizens for Safe Water