Durham County board of health Chair Sue McLaurin reaffirmed Thursday what all cities ought to emulate – that they are committed to reviewing the new science and evidence which proves the inefficacy of community water fluoridation.
“We have formed a subcommittee to review the issue of fluoridation. That subcommittee met November 19th and we will be meeting again December 17, so just to let you know we are moving along as a group.”
Whether this will result in any effectual action remains to be seen however. As we have found from the obtuse behavior of the Raleigh City Council and deceptive actions relayed from others – accountability for this issue has had a tendency to jump from agency to agency, never seeming to rest on one central authority who can “turn off the spigots.”
The bureaucracy that protects the chemical/fertilizer companies who lobby for and supply Fluoride is a frustrating aspect for any activist, but perhaps there is cause for celebration here. Afterall, the incredible work by ABC news Affiliate WTVD rocked the country (and world) and I suspect brought much due pressure onto the governing bodies of Durham County. I had a gut sense today that they were listening more intently when I made this December 13th appearance, which is why I decided to give them some warm words of encouragement as they went into the December 17th meeting. I understand it takes strength to admit you’ve been lied to, so I gave them the following 3 quotes:
From William Owens, President of the 5,000-member-strong Coalition of African American Pastors:
“African Americans have more kidney disease and more diabetes, but nobody elected to tell us that kidney patients and diabetics are more susceptible to harm from ingested fluorides… We need to investigate this Fluoridegate mess. This is a civil rights and environmental justice issue.”
From Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.:
“Water fluoridation needs to end. It is good that organizations are lending their support to help push this outdated and harmful practice of fluoridation toward collapse.”
From Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr.:
“This is a civil rights issue. No one should be subjected to drinking fluoride in their water, especially sensitive groups like kidney patients and diabetics, babies in their milk formula, or poor families that cannot afford to purchase unfluoridated water. Black and Latino families are being disproportionately harmed.”
Early on in this fight I discovered the Durham County Board of Health is the governing body who makes health-related recommendations to the City Council, which is why I appear in front of them as opposed to the Mayor, councilmen et, al.
The City Council will not change anything “public health related” without the stamp of approval from the board of health. THEN, and only then – will they legislate accordingly (or so they say).
The frustrating part about the bureaucracy is the waiting, the process, and the protocol. At each meeting I only have 3 minutes to say my piece, and I only get that one chance once a month.
It takes a month to form a subcommittee.
It takes another month to schedule and have a meeting.
The next meeting might actually be spent talking about the issue, but no decision will be made till the next meeting…
and so on and so forth.
I now know how some people have spent their entire lifetime fighting one single issue – because the system is designed to make it that overwhelming. They’d rather you go back to sleep.
The Layers of Bureaucracy Could Keep You Occupied for a Lifetime
No doubt it is a thick onion to peel but that will have to be an unfortunate statement on the current state of affairs. The truth of the matter is that no agency, board of health, department, or title within the government has the ultimate authority to determine what goes into our water. WE DO – not only because Water is a divine gift from the Universe, but we pay for it! We literally are the customers – so why does one have to generate an almost literal act of congress just to not get medicated via drinking water against your will?
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