BY DONNA WESTFALL

From the Daytona Beach, Florida newspaper.  Aliss Terpstra responds with a letter to editor about an article by staff writer,  Chris Graham: http://www.news-journalonline.com/ published November 3, 2012 about Ormond Beach voting on a referendum regarding water fluoridation.  There is a chronic problem with many newspapers across our nation that they simply do not do their homework or research.  The problem exists today in our local paper, Del Norte Triplicate or “Trip” for short.  Refer to article written by Katherine Kelly in www.crescentcitytimes.com  November 4, 2012, “Democratic Party Lying About Measure A.” Recently a big deal was made about the Trip and lack of fact checking for political ads.

Aliss Terpstra lives in Toronto, Canada.  She is a fluoride poisoning survivor. She is also a Certified Nutritional Practitioner (CNP). Here is Aliss’ letter to editor.  I have her permission to re-print.

Dear Chris,

A small group of white male property owners have in the past decided status quo on slavery, segregation and suffrage – highly divisive issues because enlightened citizens rejected colonial authoritarianism, racism and misogyny as harmful and unjust. Do you think that segregation, like fluoridation, should not be challenged because 20 more voters marked a ballot one time many years ago in an Alabama town run by white supremacists? To this day, Alabama’s constitution enshrines racial segregation in public education. Is this a good thing?

Human rights and equality have progressed in part because some members of the fourth estate were courageous enough to support the idea that civil rights cannot be denied on basis of race or gender, regardless of what voters decided.

I ask that you as a staff writer become courageous like that. Support the divisive idea that fluoridation based on lies and propaganda is wrong, as the abuse of power is wrong even when people are deceived to vote for it by doctors in white coats. Support the divisive idea that public water supplies are not to be the dumping ground for phosphate industry’s toxic pollution. Support the divisive idea that bottle fed infants should not be given chronic fluoride overdose in their formula because hoodwinked voters decided something fifty years ago. Support the divisive idea that dental fluorosis is harming the teeth and bones of nearly half of the children exposed to fluoridated water from birth.

I challenge you: why should discussing a political campaign to make Ormond Beach residents continue consuming the cheapest, dirtiest toxic fluoride chemical available NOT be “divisive”? Something has to be done to divide the jerks from the enlightened people who care about democracy. Why not do it with your articles?

Be scrupulously accurate and complete in your coverage. Start telling the whole truth. Half-truths, omissions and false implications used to promote government policy are destructive to democracy. This nation, we the people, have suffered too much from that.

The Periodic Table of the elements says fluoride is a halogen. So stop calling it a mineral in your articles. The Institute of Medicine says it is not a nutrient. Make sure you tell the public this too. The chemical added to drinking water is fluorosilic acid, not “fluoride” and certainly not “flouride”. Spell it right, and tell the public what it is not. It is not natural; it is washed out of industrial pollution scrubbers with sulfuric acid, heavy metal contaminants and all. It is not the chemical found in toothpaste. Toothpaste’s sodium fluoride is an FDA-approved topical cavity fighter, but is not approved for systemic intake as a cavity fighter. No drug or chemical meant to be taken systemically has been approved by the FDA as a cavity fighter. So stop saying it is. Fluorosilic acid is not legally approved as a cavity fighter, so stop saying that a water additive you are meant to swallow can be a cavity fighter. Fluorosilic acid is not an approved systemic drug, not an approved topical dental product ingredient, not approved by any regulatory agency or by the NSF certifying body as a water additive that prevents dental disease. Or is safe to consume for life.

Be logical, and demand that those campaigning to maintain fluoridation be logical. A blob of toothpaste and a large glass of fluoridated water both give approximately the same dose of fluoride to the body – about .30 mg. How can twenty glasses of fluoridated water consumed easily in one day by a runner or outside labourer, be safe and “optimal” when twenty blobs of toothpaste a day is a toxic fluoride overdose known to cause cumulative bone damage?

If you have the courage to give ordinary voters this information, they will thank you.

Sincerely,

Aliss Terpstra

Toronto, Canada