F.A.N. Newsletter

Why I’m Committed to FAN and Its Mission

Prior to joining the Fluoride Action Network as the Campaign Director in 2010, I had worked as a lobbyist and campaign director for a number of corporate, public health, and nonprofit clients.  Some of the issues I worked on were at the time considered controversial, like advocating for single-stream recycling, ending outpatient referral kickbacks for corrupt doctors, and legalizing medical marijuana for terminally and seriously ill patients. 

But nothing I’ve worked on has presented the amount of obstacles or level of opposition that working to end overexposure to fluoride has.  The amount of effort, propaganda, and money the fluoridation-lobby is willing to utilize to cover-up their experiment-gone-wrong is unprecedented.  Their credibility is now tied too closely to fluoridation, and there is no letting go for them, regardless of emerging science, of facts, of anything.  They’re committed to protecting their policy.

This is why FAN is so important, because this practice won’t end on its own.  It will take constant pushback from a group like FAN to achieve a world safe from overexposure to fluoride.  We are grossly outspent by the fluoridation lobby, but for every dollar our opposition spends, we match or exceed it in work ethic, passion, and integrity.  The truth is on our side and we will prevail. 

The number one active ingredient in the multi-billion dollar dental product world is fluoride; the sacred cow.  Opening eyes to the dangers posed by ingesting it could up-end an entire industry and justifiably shine a light on the unethical members of the public health establishment who ignore research showing harm in a rush to feed us all more fluoride.  But it has to happen.  Sometimes, accepting the truth is arduous and painful, but there is no growth without growing pains, and I’m not just happy, but proud to be a pain in the pro-fluoridation lobby’s neck. 

I joined the Fluoride Action Network because: 

1) I felt strongly that the practice of artificial water fluoridation set a dangerous public health precedent that threatened personal freedom and choice by using the public water supply to distribute a drug, without consent or concern for vulnerable subpopulations. 

2) As I learned more about the practice, I noticed how many of my friends and acquaintances had dental fluorosis, and I felt they deserved the truth, as well as some sort of vindication and justice.  According to the CDC, 61% of adolescents in the U.S. now have dental fluorosis, up from 41% in the early 2000’s.  Instead of taking action to reduce this number, the fluoride-lobby has doubled-down on their efforts to expand fluoridation, while simultaneously increasing fluoride exposure for infants and toddlers by recommending fluoride toothpaste only 4-6 months after birth, when 100% will be swallowed.

3) Shortly after I started working for FAN I became a dad, and the desire to protect the two most important people in my life and their generation from this all-too-present neurotoxin and its harmful side-effects became abundantly important.  As more research now links fluoride exposure during fetal development to lowered IQ and a possible increase in ADHD risk--and exposure during infant years also to lowered IQ--I'm thankful I was able to use the knowledge I gained from FAN to help my children avoid these risks.  

4) The truth is on our side. I’ve never seen a study that says children need more, not less, exposure to environmental toxins.  I haven’t read a study that recommends ingesting more hazardous waste from the phosphate fertilizer industry as part of a healthy diet.  I’ve never laid on eye on a journal article recommending the addition of aluminum, arsenic, or other heavy metals to our public drinking water, as fluoridation does.  

If the truth was on the promoters’ side they wouldn’t need to use the tactics that they use, including massive campaign contributions to influence elected leaders, grants to buy support from community groups, character assasination of professionals who speak out, and outrageously biased propaganda. If the truth was on their side they would be willing to debate leading scientific opponents of fluoridation in public (they seldom will); they would be able to respond in writing to the fully documented book The Case Against Fluoride (no response after years) and they wouldn’t need to use a rapid response team to insult and ridicule anybody who questions fluoridation on the internet or in letters to newspaper editors.

5) FAN has an impressive group of highly qualified professionals advising it.  These include Hardy Limeback DDS, PhD, Bill Osmunson DDS, MPH, David Kennedy DDS, Kathleen Thiessen PhD, Bill Hirzy, PhD, Paul Connett, PhD, James Beck MD, PhD, Spedding Micklem, DPhil (Oxon), and many, many others (thank you all). I’ve participated in many public hearings on fluoridation, and have heard many hours of testimony from so-called public health experts and government agency reps. I can say without hesitation that FAN’s experts know the literature better than anyone promoting fluoridation, and the proponents cannot match this group for knowledge or integrity.  I’ve met most of our professionals in person, and my respect for them has only grown.    

6) I’m truly blessed to be part of this magnificent worldwide network. The key leaders have no hidden agenda; they are not in this to make money or to seek power. I know this for a fact because I have had the huge privilege of personally meeting many of them at our conferences, after spending many hours, days, weeks, and months working with them over the phone and via email.

These include very active individuals and groups in Australia (FAN-Australia), Canada (COF-COF), Ireland (several groups), Japan (Japanese Society for Fluoride Research), Israel (very active individuals), New Zealand (FAN-NZ) and hundreds of groups throughout the US.  Real citizens committed to clean and safe drinking water for their community.  How can you not respect that?

7) I’ve come to love our amazing supporters. Yes you! You, who root for the underdog; you, who back truth wherever it leads; you, who care about your community; you, who care about your children’s future; you, who want to see the rift between honest science and public health policy mended; you, who want to see integrity restored to science and to professional bodies, and you who want people to be able to trust in their government.

I urge you to join me by committing to ending fluoridation and becoming a part of this winning team the moment you make a donation – large or small. And yes it is tax-deductible, so if you live in the US donate to FAN and not Uncle Sam, who spends millions of our tax dollars for fluoridation schemes.

Thank you,

Stuart Cooper
Campaign Director
Fluoride Action Network