Opponents of the use of fluoride in the Twin Villages water supply held an informational meeting in the Porter Meeting Hall at Skidompha Library Oct. 6 in advance of a November referendum vote on the subject.
Eight residents attended the meeting called “Fluoride: It’s Not What You Think,” which was led by Edgecomb nursing student Joel Oyer.
Oyer is part of a group who circulated a petition bringing the issue of adding fluoride to Damariscotta and Newcastle’s water supply to a vote on the November ballot.
Medical and dental professionals will be holding an additional informational meeting at Skidompha Library in the Porter Meeting Hall on Oct. 27 to which the public is invited. Questions will be taken from the floor and data presented regarding fluoride from the Center For Disease Control, the World Health Organization and the Dental Professional community.
In 1969 and 1970, Newcastle and Damariscotta voted, along with a majority of communities across the country, to add measured and regulated amounts of fluoride to the public water supply. The primary goal was to slow the formation of cavities in the teeth of children and adults.
Oyer shared a PowerPoint Presentation containing quotations from several studies done on the effects of fluoride. It examined both the incidence of tooth decay and the health impact of the widespread use of fluoridation in town and city drinking supplies. The illustrations and quotations did not differentiate between calcium fluoride, which is naturally occurring, and sodium fluoride, which is the basis for the element added to drinking water.
Oyer later clarified this, stating that the body converts these compounds into similar chemical composition and that all the slides referred to fluoridation in water specifically.
Charts to illustrate the theory that this policy has failed were on display. They compared the incidence of cavities in countries worldwide with no fluoridation to countries that utilize fluoride. The graphs that were shared indicated no appreciable difference in the incidence of tooth decay in fluoridated populations versus non-fluoridated populations.
The issue of fluorosis was brought up by a mother who was upset that her daughter has stains on her teeth. “Fluorosis” refers to the staining of the teeth from ingested fluoride, a cosmetic side effect from fluoride use in some children.
At one point in his presentation, Oyer stated that that the “Water Board (Great Salt Bay Sanitary District Board of Trustees) flatly refused to put a letter in with water bills informing the public that it has been reported that infant formula should not be mixed with fluoridated water.”
In attendance at the meeting, Scott Abbotoni, Water District Manager for nine years, stated Oyer’s characterization of that discussion was not accurate.
Abbotoni explained that local water supplies are very closely watched and a computer monitor is always sending him data to insure that all drinking water is at the best possible standards under the law. “If there is any elevation in levels, we shut down and address the problem immediately,” he said, “The State was just here on Monday for testing, and everything was fine.”
Oyer, passionate about his beliefs, stated that he was not a resident of the towns that would be voting on the fluoridation issue in November. He said that if he were, he would vote “No, No, No.” He said that he had grown up with fluoridation and was a healthy person, “but I am not as smart or as healthy I would have been without fluoride in the water I drank as a child.”
Oyer completed his presentation with a YouTube Video of Dr J. William Hirzy at the US Senate Hearing in Safe Water Drinking Act June 29, 2000, who argued for the removal of fluorides from drinking water in the offices of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 280, for whom he (Hirzy) spoke.
The majority of the eight people in attendance were in agreement with Oyer and expressed their concerns over fluoridation in the specific cases of the ill, the very young and the elderly.
Damariscotta and Newcastle residents will have the opportunity to vote on the fluoridation referendum on local ballots on Nov. 8.
