Fluoride Alert Newsletter
Telemundo Airs Fluoridation TV
Series
Towards the end of December, the
Telemundo television network aired a three-part news report on water
fluoridation on its Atlanta affiliate station. This is a major development
since Telemundo is the second largest Spanish-language television network and is
a trusted news source in the Hispanic community. The series includes an
introduction to the issue, an interview with a CDC statistician who attempts to
explain why there are no fluorosis
records for the Hispanic population, and advice on taking
action. It’s important to remember that in 2011, the largest national Hispanic civil rights organization, the League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) passed a resolution calling for an end to fluoridation.
The
broadcasts can be seen on the following links:
The series is the result of the organizing work of Dan Stockin of the Lille Center in Georgia, who provided the following message:
Hispanic Media Awakens to Fluoridegate
and Fluoridation Harm
Hi - this
is Daniel Stockin of The Lillie Center. As you may know, we've worked very hard
at The Lillie Center to educate the African American community about
disproportionate harm to communities of color from water fluoridation, but we
have also done work to reach out to the Latino community. (My wife is Hispanic
and I grew up with many Hispanic friends). I wanted to let you know of a really
super development that has far-reaching implications. I was fortunate to speak
with the anchor of Atlanta's Telemundo news. For those that don't know,
Telemundo is a major news and programming outlet for Hispanics here in the U.S.
Now Telemundo Atlanta has produced a three-part series in Spanish that aired
recently. (In CDC's backyard!) I wanted to ask everyone in the anti-fluoridation
community to take a moment to check these out. Unfortunately we don't have an
English transcript of these pieces yet, but while the story is still new I
wanted to ask folks to send the links below to every Hispanic TV station, radio
station, newspaper, or website in your area. It's worth seeing these, even if
you don't speak Spanish. See below for info as to what's covered. There is a lot
here that can be done by other outlets to produce other stories on harm to
Hispanics from drinking fluoridated water.
The
series is called: Drinking Water or Poison? For the first time, CDC was put on
the defensive about fluoridation harm to Latinos, AND an interview happened at
CDC! The first piece introduces the issue and features environmental leader
Laura Seydel, myself, and Kathy Thiessen. Pieces of the Fluoridegate and Our
Daily Dose documentaries are cut in. The second piece has an interview with the
CDC Oral Health researcher involved in telling us that 41% of 12-15 year olds
have dental fluorosis. I always wondered why the data told us fluorosis info by
age group, but not by race. Why would they collect age data but not race data?
Why not share race data, unless doing so created a problem? Then we found out
that CDC wasn't keen on sharing that info...and Freedom of Information Act
documents let slip that they do know that blacks have way more fluorosis than
whites...but why no info shared on fluorosis in Hispanics? The CDC rep here
actually says there is no data. And if you believe that, well... you shouldn't.
The third piece tells people how they can take action and how they can contact
the Nidel law firm if they have dental fluorosis. The station put up pics of
fluorosis on their facebook page. Wahoo! This coverage has been worth all the
trips down into Atlanta.
Please
forward this everywhere -- also to Hispanic city council members, legislators,
and U.S. senators and congress reps. And if you'd like to send a thank you to
Telemundo, here's the news division: noticias@telemundoatlanta.com In the
subject line you could mention Fluoride or its Spanish version: Fluoruro. Send
your email in English - they have people like anchor Lara Carolina Fernandez
there who are bilingual. I think she should get an award for courageously
breaking this story in the Hispanic media.
Wow, am I
glad this is finally out there, for folks to see.
Daniel G.
Stockin, MPH
http://www.nextstagescience.org/
posted by Bill at
5:12 PM
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