Fluoride VIDEO - Ark. Dept of Health Board Mtg 4/23/15 - Secure Arkansas

Fluoride VIDEO – Ark. Dept of Health Board Mtg 4/23/15

April 23, 2015 Fluoridation

Click here to watch the YouTube video of Eureka Springs Alderman David Mitchell addressing the Arkansas Department of Health during their quarterly board meeting today, April 23, 2015, about the dangers of fluoride.

Alderman Mitchell also mentioned Resolution No. 653 in which the Eureka Springs Council members unanimously passed at the beginning of this year. The resolution asks state health department officials to certify that any additives to the city’s water supply, including fluoride, are safe and lead-free.

Here is his speech:

“I would like to thank the Arkansas Board of Health President Dr. Braden and all the Board members for giving me the opportunity to address the City of Eureka Springs Resolution 653 passed by the City Council dated January 26th of this year and also a letter that was sent to Dr. Nate Smith dated January 27th of this year as well.

My name is David Mitchell, and I am currently serving in my second term as a City Alderman for the City of Eureka Springs.

I am a retired Hospital Administrator/Registered Nurse with 40 years of service in health care. Don’t hold that Hospital Administration background against me since I am here to speak briefly about the topic of Fluoride and why Eureka Springs and its citizens do not want our water supply to have fluoride added.

Citizens of Eureka Springs of which I reside preferred the passage of a draft Bill from Senator Bryan King allowing local option when it comes to adding fluoride to the water supply of water districts serving a population of over 5,000. That Bill recently died in Senate Committee and never made it to a vote by the full Senate. It is a shame that a few Senators were able to kill a bill allowing for local option regarding the addition of Fluoride. Not only does the City of Eureka Springs not want fluoride added to our water supply, but the cities of Hot Springs and Fort Smith have also expressed concerns about this issue.

The Bill from the State of Arkansas General Assembly # 359 Section 1, 20-7-136, c. states:

“The State Board of Health shall adopt rules relating to the fluoridation of water systems that shall include without limitation:

1. Permissible concentrations of fluoride to be maintained by a water system; and 2. Requirements and procedures for maintain permissible concentrations of fluoride including without limitations: necessary equipment, recordkeeping, reporting and testing.

Key words of note: shall adopt rules relating to the fluoridation of water systems that shall include without limitation .

I read on The Arkansas Board of Health website your Mission and Vision statements as follows:

Mission Statement – To protect and improve the health and well-being of all Arkansans

Vision Statement – Optimal health for all Arkansans to achieve maximum personal, economic and social impact

I also noted the Arkansas Board of Health’s definition of public health that includes the words:

”Develop the social machinery to ensure everyone a healthy standard of living.”

From the Arkansas Department of Health Rules & Regulations

‘The State Board of Health is empowered to make all necessary and reasonable rules and regulations of a general nature for the protection of the public health and safety; for the general amelioration of the sanitary and hygienic conditions within the state; for the suppression and prevention of infectious, contagious, and communicable diseases; for the proper enforcement of quarantine, isolation, and control of such diseases; and for the proper control of chemical exposures that may result in adverse health effects to the public. The Department of Health is the state agency responsible for implementing the Board’s regulations.’

In further researching your website, I found several publications regarding the issue of fluoridation and the stance on this topic that you have taken to date:

Community Water Fluoridation: A Position Paper, Prepared by the Office of Oral Health and the Science Advisory Committee dated 2008

The Science Of Fluoride, POLICY AND INFORMATION ON FLUORIDE FROM AMERICA’S LEADING SCIENTIFIC AND CONSUMER ADVOCATES from 2008 and finally this bulletin:

The Arkansas Department of Health enthusiastically supports Community Water Fluoridation to promote good health date unknown

Based on The Arkansas Department of Health’s Mission, Vision and definition of public health and based on the authority given your department in Bill # 359 allowing you to: “adopt rules relating to the fluoridation of water systems that shall include without limitation”, The City Council of Eureka Springs Arkansas requests of the Arkansas Department of Health the following:

1. Water districts in Arkansas are allowed by regulation/order of the Arkansas Department of Health that suppliers of fluoridation products provide besides a detailed analysis of the chemicals contained and their parts per million a statement in writing to water districts and their customers that their product(s) are: SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION AND EXTERNAL USE. Should a water district not get that written assurance from a product supplier, they are to continue their search for a supplier that will assure the product is safe for human consumption and will not fluoridate the water for that water district until a supplier is found.

2. The Arkansas Department of Health issue a regulation/order to strictly enforce the Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Public Water Systems as revised by the State Board of health dates February 24th, 2014 Section VII, paragraph G: approved Chemicals, Materials , Equipment and Processes to wit:

“All chemicals added to the water and all materials in contact with in-process or threatened water shall be certified as being in compliance with ANSI/NSF Standards 60.and 61 as applicable. In addition, all products are required to be ‘lead free’ as determined through Section 1417 of the Safe Drinking water and shall be certified as being in compliance with NSF/ANSI 372 or Annex G of NSF/ANSI 61. Certification shall be made by an independent agency. Self-certification by the manufacturer will not be acceptable.

Currently the product supplier, Prayon, identified by the Carroll-Boone Water district of which Eureka Springs is a customer states that :

Prayon’s online sodium fluorosilicate product specification data sheet states the product contains an average of 10 ppm of heavy metals and up to 50 ppm.

To protect the citizens of Eureka Springs, a Victorian Village in the Ozark Mountains founded well over a hundred years ago, from increased levels of lead, we request the Arkansas Department of Health to use its empowered authority via Bill 359 to: make all necessary and reasonable rules and regulations of a general nature for the protection of the public health and safety; for the general amelioration of the sanitary and hygienic conditions within the state; for the suppression and prevention of infectious, contagious, and communicable diseases; for the proper enforcement of quarantine, isolation, and control of such diseases; and for the proper control of chemical exposures that may result in adverse health effects to the public.

The City of Eureka Springs requests of the Arkansas Department of Health that by order/regulation of the your department:

Suppliers of fluoridation chemicals assure water districts that their product is safe for human consumption/external use in writing.
That the Arkansas Department of Health abides by the “lead free’ mandate in the Safe Drinking water regulations of the Federal Government. Eureka Springs has many structures that still contain lead pipes and fluoridation chemicals will leach out more lead into our water supply. I for instance have an historic home built in 1883 and finally found the last lead section of pipe two years ago and had it replaced. Many structures in Eureka and the surrounding areas have homes with lead pipes still in use.

The City of Eureka Springs will be via our qualified and certified Director Public Works randomly testing our water supply at end points of homes and businesses within the city limits for lead via an independent testing facility. Should testing show any level of lead, the city will duly report that issue at both the State and Federal level as appropriate.

I appreciate the opportunity to address the board and thank you for your time today.”

NOTE: We never saw our Arkansas Attorney General Greg Bledsoe in attendance at the Arkansas Board of Health meeting today.

Also, Alan Fortenberry had recently recommended Jeff Stone to be appointed to the Arkansas Drinking Water Advisory Board and Operator Licensing Committee. A vote was required for this appointment, and it passed unanimously today. (We will see how this goes because we have had enough fluoride!…and other contaminants in our tap water!)