Grand Jury complaints have been filed against the Director/Public Guardian of Del Norte County Health and Human Services, (DHS)Gary Blatnick, in addition to Dr. Thomas Martinelli, M.D., FACP, Public Health Officer.
In their February 10, 2011 response to six citizen complaints delivered to the DHS in January of this year, instead of addressing each specific complaint, Blatnick attached a form letter dated January 5, 2009. The substance of this form letter was further rhetoric stating in part, “Without reservation, we fully support water fluoridation and encourage every water system in Del Norte County to follow the lead of the City of Crescent City and its electorate supporting water fluoridation to benefit its residents.”
Apparently, neither Blatnick nor Martinelli bothered to read the EPA’s statement about 41% of our youth in this nation now suffer from fluorosis. Fluorosis is an outward sign of fluoride poisoning.
As a result of the EPA’s confession (after 50 years of spouting the same rhetoric that fluoride is safe), the Crescent City, City Council voted on February 7th to reduce the parts per million down to .7 ppm. City engineer, Eric Wier, confirmed that repairs had been made to the fluoridation equipment as getting within .7 ppm was problematic until just recently. New check valves were purchased and installed and currently, the city has been within .7 ppm parameters for the past 3 weeks.
The grassroots organization, Del Norte Clean Water, is already preparing for the next initiative to put a Measure on the 2012 ballot. Part of their strategy is to contact every doctor and dentist along with every elected official that opposed the removal of fluoride from the drinking water and find out if they did their research. The type of fluoride added to the city’s drinking water comes from the fertilizer industry and is a toxic industrial waste product.
In Donna Westfall’s complaint to DHS, she asks for, “… irrefutable proof that the fluosilicic acid put into our drinking water is safe for all ages and sub-groups of the population. The Supplier will not respond to my letter. Please do an independent investigation based on scientific evidence and not rhetoric.” This request was ignored by Blatnick and Martinelli.
Studies have shown that people with kidney disease, diabetes and thyroid problems, to name a few, should not be drinking fluoridated water. Infants to at least 1 year old should not be drinking fluoridated water. The list is endless.
It’s time to stop treating the addition of toxic industrial waste as a political issue and start treating it as a health issue. Perhaps this Grand Jury will take it’s role seriously and delve into the problems that could start with asking the question, “Why is Del Norte County 4th in the state for all cancers and what part does drinking toxic industrial waste have to do with it?”
