F.A.N. Newsletter

Below Oregon campaign organizer and the chairperson of FAN’s advisory committee Rick North asks the question “What if FAN didn’t exist,” but first we will examine our fundraiser to see how we are doing to make sure that we will continue to exist and achieve more great things in 2019.

With the $1000 doubling challenge pledge yesterday we raised $2,750 from 4 very generous donors. This brings us to our current grand total of $75,950 from 137 donors.
Thank you to all who have so generously helped us to reach our current totals on the way to our goal of $250,000 from 1,250 donors by midnight Dec 31, and our mini-goal of $100,000 by Christmas Eve.

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How to make a tax-deductible donation to FAN:

• Online at our secure server.
  
• Or by Check, payable to the Fluoride Action Network. Send your check to:
  
  Fluoride Action Network
  c/o Connett
  104 Walnut Street
  Binghamton NY 13905  

*Please note that some corporations match tax deductible donations made by their employees to some non-profits. We qualify for this. This is the information to provide your corporation finance people, the parent body for FAN is the American Environmental Health Studies Project, Inc, registered in Vermont. 

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What if FAN didn’t exist?

By Rick North

I’m a volunteer activist opposing fluoridation at three levels. Locally, I was deeply involved in the successful 2013 Portland and 2016 Newport campaigns. Statewide, I’ve worked with state legislators to prevent a law forcing fluoridation on all Oregon cities. And nationally, I work with FAN on several projects and have been a presenter at their last two national conferences. I am the current chairperson of FAN’s advisory committee and also serve on the advisory board of the American Environmental Health Sciences project, Inc, FAN’s umbrella group for its 501-c3 status.
On EVERY campaign I’ve worked, FAN has been there to back me up. In Oregon, we simply couldn’t have been anywhere near as successful without FAN’s support – up-to-date scientific advice, materials, and the inspiration to go the extra mile.
If you want an idea of just how indispensable FAN has been, just ask these series of questions:
“If FAN didn’t exist, who would . . .”

• Provide such incredibly useful videos on their website, such as “Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation,” Jeremy Seifert’s “Our Daily Dose,” and Michael Connett’s “Ten Facts About Fluoride”
  
  
• Provide local campaigners with a basic toolkit of how-to’s -what to say and do to give yourself and your town the best chances to defeat fluoridation
  
  
• Provide local campaigners with personal, individualized mentoring for their particular situations
  
  
• Challenge fluoridationists in debates and media events all over the world
  
  
• Provide professionals – scientists, physicians, dentists and public health workers – with the most up-to-date scientific research on fluoride found anywhere in the world
  
  
• Translate critically important foreign research studies that don’t show up in U.S. publications because they’re not in English
  
  
• Hold national conferences bringing together the top scientific and activist leaders in the world
  
  
• Take the most complex, geeky, nerdy scientific information and put it into easy-to-understand language for the rest of us!
  
  
• Update everyone on the latest fluoridation news from everywhere
  
  
• Organize a coalition of other progressive organizations to petition the EPA to ban fluoridation under provisions in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – and when EPA refused, take them to Federal court (a case that will be heard in August 2019)!

NOBODY ELSE could do this. Much of it is pro bono work, but there are necessary expenses for professional staff, research, website, materials and equipment that can only be met by YOU donating to the cause.
Your generous gift is more than a donation. It’s an investment in a future where no one’s health will be put at risk by fluoridation, one of the most ill-advised practices ever instituted.
If you’re reading this, you already know the sheer folly of the statement that “Fluoridation is one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20^th century.”
We all know better. And we all know this – ENDING fluoridation will be one of the greatest health achievements of the 21^st century.
FAN provides the leadership and support to get us to the finish line. But it can’t be successful without your support.
We need FAN and FAN needs us. It’s that simple. Please become part of this great movement – please donate generously now.

Thank you,

Rick North

 

Rick North is the former executive vice president of the Oregon American Cancer Society and former project director for Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Campaign for Safe Food. Now retired, he’s a volunteer advocate for safe water, safe food and the preservation of democracy.