USA - Man, 81, ceases crusade
Man, 81, ceases crusade
Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 10:28 PM
Alan Lewis Gerstenecker, EditorRobert Stewart, the 81-year-old widower who has asked the city to remove fluoride from the city’s drinking water supply, says he’s giving up the fight.On two occasions, Stewart has approached the City Council to take action on removing fluoride from the city’s water supply, most recently during its last meeting.
“Is there no one here who will stand up for the citizens of Rolla in this regard?” Stewart asked City Council members. “This fluoride is poisoning our water and our children.”Stewart, almost single-handedly, has been crusading to have the city remove fluoride from its drinking supply.Stewart points out on the back of a tooth paste tube box there are clear warnings that tooth paste, which contains fluoride, should not be swallowed.
“Clearly, its poison. It has benefits as long as it’s not ingested,” Stewart said. “It’s in all of our tooth pastes, clearly then it doesn’t need to be in the water.”Rolla Municipal Utilities Public Relations Coordinator Rodney Bourne countered Stewart’s concerns, while admitting there is opposition to fluoride, a vast number of federal agencies endorse adding fluoride to drinking water, namely the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.Fluoridation has been added to public water systems in North America since 1945.
Fluoride is the ionic, or electrically charged form of the element fluorine. It is reactive and strongly attaches itself to other elements, making them hard and brittle.According to Webster, sodium fluoride and its derivatives are used in insect and rat poisons. However, because it has a tendency to easily adhere to substances, it has hardening properties.It is added to drinking water to strengthen teeth from decay. Approximately 70 percent of public drinking water is fluoridated.
Health officials have maintained that low doses of fluoride are safe and good for children’s teeth.Rolla, acting through its Board of Public Works, has authorized and directed to add fluoride into the public water supply. The fluoride concentration is approximately one part per million parts of water.Stewart, a retired assistant personnel officer of the U.S. Geological Survey, passed numerous documents citing the detriments of fluoride, including an excerpt from “The Lancet,” a leading English medical journal, that states sodium fluoride inhibits or destroys the crucial neurotransmitter Acelylcholine, which is imperative for the process of learning and memory.
“I’m old, so I guess I can keep on drinking it, but I am concerned about the children,” Stewart said. “I couldn’t get one person on the council to make a motion to take the poison out of the water.“I guess I’m done with it. I’m probably seen as a trouble maker, but it’s something I felt I had to do,” Stewart said. “I really didn’t want the publicity... It’s just something I had to do it for the children. It’s in our tooth paste. It doesn’t need to be in our water, too.”
Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 10:28 PM
Alan Lewis Gerstenecker, EditorRobert Stewart, the 81-year-old widower who has asked the city to remove fluoride from the city’s drinking water supply, says he’s giving up the fight.On two occasions, Stewart has approached the City Council to take action on removing fluoride from the city’s water supply, most recently during its last meeting.
“Is there no one here who will stand up for the citizens of Rolla in this regard?” Stewart asked City Council members. “This fluoride is poisoning our water and our children.”Stewart, almost single-handedly, has been crusading to have the city remove fluoride from its drinking supply.Stewart points out on the back of a tooth paste tube box there are clear warnings that tooth paste, which contains fluoride, should not be swallowed.
“Clearly, its poison. It has benefits as long as it’s not ingested,” Stewart said. “It’s in all of our tooth pastes, clearly then it doesn’t need to be in the water.”Rolla Municipal Utilities Public Relations Coordinator Rodney Bourne countered Stewart’s concerns, while admitting there is opposition to fluoride, a vast number of federal agencies endorse adding fluoride to drinking water, namely the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.Fluoridation has been added to public water systems in North America since 1945.
Fluoride is the ionic, or electrically charged form of the element fluorine. It is reactive and strongly attaches itself to other elements, making them hard and brittle.According to Webster, sodium fluoride and its derivatives are used in insect and rat poisons. However, because it has a tendency to easily adhere to substances, it has hardening properties.It is added to drinking water to strengthen teeth from decay. Approximately 70 percent of public drinking water is fluoridated.
Health officials have maintained that low doses of fluoride are safe and good for children’s teeth.Rolla, acting through its Board of Public Works, has authorized and directed to add fluoride into the public water supply. The fluoride concentration is approximately one part per million parts of water.Stewart, a retired assistant personnel officer of the U.S. Geological Survey, passed numerous documents citing the detriments of fluoride, including an excerpt from “The Lancet,” a leading English medical journal, that states sodium fluoride inhibits or destroys the crucial neurotransmitter Acelylcholine, which is imperative for the process of learning and memory.
“I’m old, so I guess I can keep on drinking it, but I am concerned about the children,” Stewart said. “I couldn’t get one person on the council to make a motion to take the poison out of the water.“I guess I’m done with it. I’m probably seen as a trouble maker, but it’s something I felt I had to do,” Stewart said. “I really didn’t want the publicity... It’s just something I had to do it for the children. It’s in our tooth paste. It doesn’t need to be in our water, too.”
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