With the advent of the possibility of fluoride being put into our water in the future, I wonder whether you know anything about what it does, its history and harmful effects on your health? For example, did you know that it is a waste product of the manufacturing process in the fertilizer industry? Experts say it weakens bones, causes tooth decay, premature puberty, sleep disturbances and is often responsible for thyroid disease! Not the innocent little helper we thought it was.

Did you know there is enough fluoride in a tube of toothpaste to kill two small children if they consumed the entire tube at once? You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to realize this is a dangerous substance.

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver
- Gandhi

A recently published British Medical Journal article reported that 50% of people drinking fluoridated water had mottling of their tooth enamel - which is caused by the toxic effect of ingesting more than you should. Some say that if this is a chemical and should be classed as a "medicine" (some medicine!), then ethically it is wrong to "mass medicate" without our consent or regard to "dosage" - an infringement on human liberty at the very least. Regulations to fluoridate South Africa's water are now in place - contact your local municipality to stand against this move to poison us against our will, and let's DO something about it.

Fluoride is not essential. According to the late Dr John Lee (who has discovered its terrible effect on bone) he says we have NO need for it. The fluoride compounds used in public water fluoridation are contaminated with a number of toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury and aluminium which, by synergy, are known to increase the toxicity of fluoride with the potential for brain damage and other health problems. The bottom line is that fluoride is an industrial waste product. It is more toxic than lead, and only slightly less toxic than arsenic. Fluoridation of water is based on poor science and dogmatic ignorance rather than any scientifically proven benefit to public health.

Dentists know this. As early as 1936, the Journal of the American Dental Association stated, "Fluoride at the 1 part-per-million concentration is as toxic as arsenic and lead. there is an increasing volume of evidence of the injurious effects of fluorine, especially the chronic intoxication resulting from the ingestion of minute amounts of fluorine over long periods of time."

Doctors know this too! In 1942, before the first city in the USA was fluoridated, the editor of the prestigious Journal of the Medical Association told his readers: "Fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons, probably because of their capacity to modify the metabolism of cells by changing the permeability of the cell membrane and by inhibiting certain enzyme systems. The sources of fluorine intoxication are drinking water containing 1 part-per-million or more of fluorine, fluoride compounds used as insecticidal sprays for fruits and vegetables (cryolite and barium fluosilicate) and the mining and conversion of phosphate rock to superphosphate, which is used as fertilizer."

Even pharmacists know. More recently, the US Dispensary, a reference book used by pharmacists, states: "Fluorides are violent poisons to all living tissue because of their precipitation of calcium. They cause a fall in blood pressure, respiratory failure and general paralysis. Continuous ingestion of non-fatal doses (as in the water supply and fluoride in toothpaste) causes permanent inhibition of growth." Well, maybe make your own decision - but we chose to install a water distiller and use fluoride-free toothpaste many years ago - we are not sorry!