Everett Public Utilities turned off the fluoride on Feb. 9 in order to repair pipes in the fluoridation building. Pipes were leaking hydrogen fluoride, among the most poisonous and penetrating of all substances.
The fluoridation building sits on one corner of the treatment plant, which is located north of Sultan at Lake Chaplain. The fluoride will be off until pipes and control systems can be replaced.
Everett sells water to some 700,000 people from Marysville to Edmonds and spends around $300,000 per year on fluoridation materials.
Everett fluoridates using highly acidic industrial grade silicofluoride, a chemical stew of scores of different elements and compounds. It comes from the phosphate fertilizer industry, and contains significant amounts of lead and arsenic and smaller amounts of mercury, cadmium and other toxins. Arsenic is a Type One, confirmed human carcinogen. Lead is only slightly less toxic. They both permeate every cell in the body. No amount of arsenic or lead can safely be added to drinking water.
The industrial grade silicofluoride used by Everett leaches lead commonly found in pipes and fittings, especially in old schools, old houses and other old buildings. When fluoridation stops, blood lead levels drop.
The silicofluoride Everett uses fails to meet legal standards, and so it is illegal to fluoridate with it. Washington law, WAC 246-290-220(3), says: “Any treatment chemicals … added to water intended for potable use must comply with ANSI/NSF Standard 60.” The NSF website and the NSF Standard for Drinking Water Additives say: “Standard 60 … requires a toxicology review to determine that the product is safe at its maximum use level and … to determine if any contaminant concentrations have the potential to cause adverse human health effects.”
However, NSF officials have admitted that toxicological studies are not being done. Thus, fluoridation materials do not “comply” with NSF 60, and fluoridating the water with them is illegal.
Infants and fetuses are most vulnerable because their cells are still dividing and because their kidneys are undeveloped and cannot excrete toxins well. These toxins cross the placental barrier and the blood-brain barrier. They damage brain tissue and reduce IQ while the fetus is still in the womb. Chinese studies show lower intelligence in fluoridated areas. We are dumbing down our children.
The Centers for Disease Control and the American Dental Association admit that we are giving dental fluorosis to 41 percent of our children. Around a quarter of fluorosis cases are ugly and difficult and costly to cover up.
Most dentists believe fluoride is effective topically, via toothpaste and concentrated gels, but many have come to believe that that it does not work systemically and therefore should not be forced on everyone through our drinking water.
On the litigation front, water districts should take heed of the fluoridation lawsuits that have been filed in federal courts in California, Maryland, and in the Washington courts.
Three safe water groups presented their case to the Seattle City Attorney’s office on January 9. Fluoride Class Action has written to Jenny Durkin, U.S. attorney in Seattle, asking her to bring appropriate action to stop these violations of law. See fluoride-class-action.com/seattle/us-attorney.
Consuming fluoride does not in any way strengthen teeth. It makes all bones more brittle. Fluoride binds with calcium in bones and organs throughout the body. All forms of fluoride are long-term chronic poisons for adults and short-term acute poisons for fetuses and babies. Fluoride interrupts enzymatic action and denatures proteins. It is an anticholinesterase inhibitor. There is no safe level of fluoride and the other contaminants added to our water.
Safe water groups toured the water treatment facility at Sultan. The fluoridation building has powerful fans that constantly suck air up and out through vents on the roof of the building. Nevertheless, there was enough hydrogen fluoride in the air to make me dizzy, and I had to leave the building right away. The window in the door into the fluoridation building was frosted with acidic etchings from hydrogen fluoride in the air.
Fluoride-Class-Action is demanding that the fluoride not be turned back until hearings have been held as to its safety and effectiveness. The burden of proof of safety should be on the party adding contaminants to our drinking water.
See fluoride-class-action.com/press-releases for the full version of this article and supporting references.
James Robert Deal is a Lynnwood attorney and president of Fluoride Class Action.
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