Local Control: Special Order of Business at the Ark. Capitol!
Finally, Arkansans now have a hearing scheduled to come up this 2017 session regarding water fluoridation! There will be a Special Order of Business called by the City, County, and Local Affairs Committee of the Arkansas Senate on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. at the Capitol in Room 272.
Senate Bill 299 would allow water districts to hold an election to determine if the district should fluoridate the water. An election may be called by a majority vote of the board of directors of the public water system or by a petition signed by no less than ten percent of the qualified electors of the public water system.
It’s about local control, folks! This bill was proposed by Senator King simply to allow water districts to hold an election to determine if the water districts should fluoridate the water. This should be a “no brainer” for our Arkansas Legislators. What is wrong with local control? Why is it that our legislators want to take control away from the local government? Is it that they want to be oppressive to local government and they think that they know best?
Our legislators must resist the temptation to govern from the top down and instead, let the people at the local level control their own destiny.
If this bill doesn’t make it out of this Senate committee Tuesday morning March 14, 2017, then we will have to wait until the 2019 legislative session for it to be brought up again. This bill needs to move forward and be heard by the full Senate before time in this session runs out! Your voices are greatly needed at this time, so let the calls and emails pour into this Senate committee listed below!
Should we have local control concerning water fluoridation? Well, Secure Arkansas believes we should and that the local community should be allowed to make that decision. Don’t you think so?
Everyone needs the freedom of choice! Let the voters decide! Support SB 299!
Cost of Artificial Water Fluoridation
Pages 3 through 5 give the costs of fluoridation and the effects on the infrastructures.
Here is a snippet:
- Premature Erosion of Water Distribution Infrastructure from Fluorosilicates
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Fluorosilicates shortens lifetime of water distribution infrastructure. Fluoride is the most corrosive of all known elements. (Merck Index). Fluorosilicates cause the following problems:
- Leach lead from brass/copper fittings (Coplan 2007, Maas 2007, Masters 1999, 2000, NRC 2006 Report on Fluorides in Drinking Water)
- Leach lead from lead pipes and lead solder-cast iron(CI),ductile iron(DI) piping
- Antagonists to the Asbestos Cement pipe matrix used in transmission watermains, hastening decay of this important infrastructure. (IAOMT p24)
- Corrode stainless steel, nickel.(Class 8 corrosive substance–Transport Canada)
- Makes water more acidic, creating need for neutralizing agents such as lime to increase pH.
“Kip Duchon (CDC) reported in 2007 that when U.S. Agrichemicals withdrew from the market in 2005, about half of U.S. sodium silicofluoride supplies began to be imported from a producer in China.” Source: Boulder Colorado 2008
Note: Cities in Arkansas have voiced their concern because of the lead pipes that run through their cities. Fluoride is acidic and corrosive, and it leaches lead and other heavy metals from water pipes. This is destroying the life cycle of our piping infrastructure.
Chloramine + Lead Pipes + Fluoride = Contaminated Tap Water
Did you know that these cities located in Arkansas have voted down water fluoridation? (Start-up costs have been astronomical for communities around the state that have fluoridated their water.)
Ashdown
Eureka Springs (twice)
Fort Smith (twice)
Hot Springs (twice)
Mountain View (twice)
Sulphur Rock
Texarkana
Reminder: Two water providers in northern Arkansas — Ozark Mountain Regional Water Authority and Madison County Regional Water District — are fighting the state’s fluoride mandate. Neither entity provides water to retail customers, so they aren’t “water systems” as defined by Act 197 of 2011, according to circuit court filings in Madison and Boone counties.
The Ozark Regional Public Water Authority (OMRWA) has members in four counties: Boone, Newton, Marion, and Searcy. Its members include the cities of Diamond City, Jasper, Lead Hill, Leslie, Marshall, Valley Springs, and Western Grove, in addition to the following water associations: Nail-Swain, Deer Community, South Mountain, Morning Star, Parthenon, Mt. Sherman, East Newton County, Mockingbird Hill, SDM, SP&G, and Lake Bull Shoals Estates.
The Ozark Mountain Regional Water Authority (OMRWA) filed a lawsuit in 2016 against the Arkansas Department of Health over fluoridation requirements.
In 2011, Act 197 (the fluoridation mandate) of the state legislature required that all water systems with more than 5,000 customers must add fluoride to their drinking water. The OMRWA has argued that it sells water to 18 water systems and none of those individual systems have 5,000 customers, so it should be excused from fluoridation requirements.
The Madison County Regional Water District is in Huntsville, Arkansas, and they filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) over fluoridation requirements which comes up April 17 , 2017 in the Madison County Circuit Court. The Madison County Circuit Court is located at 201 West Main Street, Huntsville, Arkansas 72740. Telephone 479-738-2215
To see if your town is fluoridated, click here. This link from the CDC has all 75 counties in Arkansas listed.
"That government is best which governs least."
– Thomas Jefferson
IMMEDIATE ACTION: Contact the Senators on the Senate City, County, and Local Affairs Committee, and encourage them to VOTE YES on SB 299 to get it out of committee. Local Control of water fluoridation is very important!
You may email all of the Senators at once by copying and pasting their email addresses below into your “TO” box in your email service.
alan.clark@senate.ar.gov
uvalde.lindsey@senate.ar.gov
Will.Bond@senate.ar.gov
Scott.Flippo@senate.ar.gov
Linda.Collins-Smith@senate.ar.
lance.eads@senate.ar.gov
Stephanie.Flowers@senate.ar.
jim.hendren@senate.ar.gov
- Sen. Alan Clark, (501) 262-3360, alan.clark@senate.ar.gov
- Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, Vice Chair, (479) 444-6752, uvalde.lindsey@senate.ar.gov
- Sen. Will Bond, (501) 396-5400, Will.Bond@senate.ar.gov
- Sen. Scott Flippo, (870) 421-3420, Scott.Flippo@senate.ar.gov
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Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, (870) 378-1434, Linda.Collins-Smith@senate.ar.
gov - Sen. Lance Eads, (479) 435-5139, lance.eads@senate.ar.gov
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Sen. Stephanie Flowers, (870) 535-1032, Stephanie.Flowers@senate.ar.
gov - Sen. Jim Hendren, (479)787-6222, jim.hendren@senate.ar.gov
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