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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is fluoride?
Fluoride is one of the most abundant chemicals on earth. It can be poisonous even at low levels, because it accumulates in the human body over a lifetime. Experts say that no chemical is absolutely safe for everybody. Even at 1ppm (the recommended level), at least 10% of children will suffer the first signs of fluorine poisoning - Dental Fluorosis.
- Isn't fluoridation along the same idea as chlorination?
No, chlorination is the process of adding chlorine at the treatment plant to kill bacteria, making the water safe to drink. Fluoridation has nothing to do with the water treament but uses water as a vehicle to treat the people who drink the water.
- I was told that fluoride naturally occurs in water, is that correct?
Yes. Fluoride occurs in the water as an impurity with other known contaminants such as arsenic and lead. The E.P.A. states that only four parts per million (4 ppm) of fluoride in the water constitutes the maximum contaminant level.
- Wouldn't you have to drink something like 13 tubs full of water to become acutely sick from fluoride?
Just as one cigarette will not make you sick but a lifetime of smoking them will, one glass of fluoridated water will not make you sick. It is the accumulated effects of fluoride in your body over a lifetime that is causing medical concern.
- Is fluoride a drug?
Yes. Massachusetts State Law states that any chemical consumed for internal use is considered a drug. In fact, fluoride medication can only be purchased by prescription because it has side effects.
- Is there a trial period for fluoridation?
Unfortunately, the law provides for us to vote it in democratically, but does not allow us to vote it out.
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- How much fluoride will be in 32 oz of fluoridated water?
The same amount as found now in one 1mg pill purchased only by prescription.
- Where do they derive the fluoride compound which they want to put in the water?
This compound, hydrofluosilicic acid, comes from scrubbing chimneys of phosphate fertilizer companies and is delivered in a rubber-lined tanker truck because of its corrosive quality.
- Will fluoride raise the acidity of the water?
Yes, the addition of hydrofluosilicic acid will raise the acidity of the water and often requires additional amounts of sodium hydroxide (chief ingredient of Drano) to be added to neutralize it.
- Are there alternatives?
Yes, fluoride could be made available through school rinse programs - voluntarily, or given by prescription under controlled clinical conditions, as it is now being provided for welfare recipients.
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