Following the Money on the Portland Fluoride debate

Yet again, the city of Portland will vote on May 21 whether or not to fluoridate the water in a special election.  This has been hotly contended in almost every part of the country (and around the world for that matter) it has been introduced to, but most recently, it is back in the Portland area - having been previously rejected 3 times, most recently in 1980.  Kind of like a bad rash.  Portland is the largest US city to not have fluoridated water.

I've heard various reporters claiming to be unbiased and just give 'both sides' of the argument, but I also know that a lobbying campaign of this magnitude is incredibly expensive, which makes me wonder who would be interested in footing that bill.  Kind of like compiling a list of suspects by looking at possible motives in a murder mystery.  I have a hard time believing that all these groups endorsing it just came together out of the blue.  Things don't work that way.  If you are hearing about something everywhere, over and over, and over again, somebody with money and power is behind it - you can be sure. I like to explore the possible players and motives.  Swaying public opinion has been one of the most important tools of getting controversial laws passed since our country's inception.  They call it The News.

One thing that has me confused is that this is being portrayed as a public service that has definite liberal, socialistic overtones and will no doubt be funded by the taxpayers, but nowadays there seem to be more liberals fighting it.  Why aren't the conservatives having a fit about this since it is a clear example of government mandating health care at the taxpayers expense?  If you take a hard 'fiscally conservative' approach to the cost/benefit, and if you look deep into the numbers, it is hard to make a case for it, considering the cost.  "53.7% of the kids in the non-fluoridated areas had one or more cavities 52.03% of kids in fluoridated areas had one or more cavities 47.81% of kids in the Portland water district (which is currently fluoride-free) had one or more cavities Looking at these results, it is hard to argue a case for fluoridation. Cascadia Times asked OHA to reconcile the numbers."  Also, it has been shown multiple times that it is mainly lower income families that will benefit from the service; again, something that is usually championed by liberals.

It would seem that these campaigns will not end until the number is at 100%



So then I began to wonder what would happen if we put that money into education and at least try to keep the kids from drinking high fructose corn syrup by the gallon (I'm not advocating what Bloomberg did - I think it's ridiculous)...  It would seem that I digress...  But not really, as I dig, it turns out that those who make  the money from selling the fluoride to the municipalities, also manufacture the phosphate fertilizers (fluoride is a toxic by-product of phosphate fertilizer manufacture) they use to grow the GMO corn for the diabetes-causing, tooth-rotting high fructose corn syrup!  Imagine that!  Wish I could say I was surprised.  Salem has had fluoridated water for years and they buy it from one of the largest privately owned agribusiness corporations in the country - Simplot, who also manufactures phosphate fertilizers.  Turns out many municipalities in the west buy their fluoride from Simplot.  That's a heck of a lot of money to the agribusiness giant for a toxic product they are being monitored to be sure they dispose of properly.

Not surprisingly, I have spotted discrepancies when it comes to the estimated cost; this official report estimates the cost at $500,000 per year based on 25 cents per household per month, plus it will supposedly cost the city $5 million for the special plant it needs to monitor and add the chemical (I figure more like $10 million based on the past tract record of estimates).  But when I use census numbers at 25 cents per household, I come up with an estimated $671,000 a year (we all know how government estimations go) - AND if you take in the entire metro area which they are trying to include, the price tag goes up to $2,603,382/year based on 867,794 households!  Give me a break!  This makes me distrust the initial estimate of 25 cents per household - what is the real number there?  Portland, who is supposedly financially strapped and simultaneously shedding all sorts of other programs and expenses, just has to cough up the money for this incredibly controversial program, while many municipalities are giving it up to save money.  Gee whiz.  Brilliant not-so-new way to fleece taxpayers yet again - if you ask me; after all my Independent research this is what it boils down to.  More crony capitalism at work - this could explain why Neocons are quiet on the subject.

Here is a look from OPB's Christian Foden-Vencil:  "On average, the study found that children with higher fluoride exposure showed poorer performance on IQ tests. The average loss in IQ was reported as a standardized weighted mean difference of 0.45, which would be approximately equivalent to seven IQ points." (from a study in China cited in the editor's notes at the end of the article).  He also cited a number of studies that are pro-fluoridation.

I've been hearing a pro-fluoridation commercial on the radio that claims that dental problems are the number one reason for children's visits to the emergency room.  What????  That doesn't seem right and my trusty BS meter was going off full tilt - so I did some digging.  Turns out my instinct was right and that accidental falls are the number one reason for emergency room visits for all ages; all I could find to even give ANY credence to this frequently touted claim, is one study conducted in Maine in 2006 that claims it was the number one reason for ages 15-44 in lower income families, and it appears that it was only for that year.  This is getting creepy.  Mind you, this is included in a pro-fluoridation report compiled by the Maine DHHS.  I would like to take a closer look at that study later.

Personally, I hope this measure is defeated on the 21st after following the money and looking at both sides carefully.