Natural News | September 22, 2008
By Neil McLaughlin

(NaturalNews) A recent newscast delivered some great news for natural health advocates while portraying it as a bad thing. On July 19, 2008 Channel 9 News (ABC) in Seminole County, FL reported that "Soon, a natural element will no longer be added to county drinking water, find out how the county tried to avoid telling customers until Channel 9 got involved."

After a commercial break it was revealed that the "natural" element they were referring to was Sodium Fluoride. The idea that the fluoride added to municipal water supplies is "natural" is a common myth. While Calcium Fluoride is the 5th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, it is Sodium Fluoride (Sodium Hexafluorosilicate), a toxic by-product of Aluminum production, that is added to the drinking water of most states in the U.S.

Sodium Fluoride has been shown to cause brain damage, ADD, Alzheimer's disease, various types of cancer, kidney problems, thyroid problems and (ironically) tooth problems. An uninformed man was shown on Channel 9 complaining that his children would no longer have the fluoride that they need for their teeth.

History of Fluoridation

In the 1930's, out of the goodness of their hearts, ALCOA (the leading producer of Aluminum) began performing dental studies. Not surprisingly, the results of their study determined that the cause of a tooth mottling (Colorado brown stain) was due to lack of fluoride, a chemical that until then had to be treated as the toxic waste it is. What a coincidence, they just happened to have lots of sodium fluoride available!

As with most studies, the study funded by the Aluminum Industry found the exact results they were looking for. If it had found any other results, the funding would have been cut and the study would have been canceled. So, to protect children as only the Aluminum industry can, they began pushing for mandatory water fluoridation, which allowed them to start selling fluoride (at 20,000% markup) instead of having to pay for it to be disposed of.

Rat Poison

Many have expressed concern that sodium fluoride often goes by another name:Rat Poison! We shouldn't worry though, claims Dr. Stephen Barrett on Quackwatch dot com (the industry lapdog on health issues) for although fluoride really is rat poison, you'd need to drink a lot of fluoridated water to actually die.

Sodium fluoride was discovered in the 1930's to make people more docile and easily manageable. Fluoride is a key component of Sarin nerve gas and is also used in Prozac. The myth that fluoride helps teeth is so widespread that 70% of Americans believe it should be added to their water, and as of the year 2000, 41 U.S. States fluoridated their water. Even natural companies like Tom's of Maine offer fluoridated toothpaste to appease customers who have apparently demanded it.

The Bottom Line

It may come as a surprise to learn just why Seminole county in Florida is making this important step that will almost certainly improve the health of their residents: cost reduction. Channel 9 reported that the cost of fluoride has increased and that budget cuts were the reason to longer add the element to water. According to Wikipedia, it costs 31 cents per person per year to add fluoride to water, along with other equipment repair costs.

This is the silver lining of our collapsing economy: people and cities can no longer afford to be so wasteful. Since most of the products people buy are toxic, the less they can spend, the better off the Earth will be. Given cheap gas, many Americans bought an SUV (because they love the outdoors) and a McMansion. The real estate boom caused acre after acre of farmland to be turned into toxic housing developments. Vegetables that would grow in our own towns are shipped 1200 miles on average. Apparently, having extra money allows counties to add extra poison to their water as well.

Channel 9 News simply did not mention that adding fluoride to water is a source of major controversy. Their point was to imply that people are being cheated out of the fluoride they deserve, and no doubt some will likely complain.