From Washington Action for Safe Water
Please attend the Wash State Court of Appeals – Monday, January 7 in Tacoma at 10:00am, WA Appeals Court, 950 Broadway, Suite 300, Tacoma.
Your presence is needed to support three appeals court judges being asked to rule that water fluoridation is medication.
Washington State Court of Appeals meets Monday, January 7 in Tacoma at 10: A.M. Their decision on this Port Angeles / Forks case could stop fluoridation statewide if laws governing drug manufacture and distribution are applied. State and Federal drug laws plainly define any substance used to treat or prevent a disease as a drug. No one questions that tooth decay is a disease. Connecting the dots should be simple, but after over 60 years of greatly mistaken pro-fluoride propaganda it is going to take courage for justices to recognize that fluoridation is truly medication of people with an unapproved drug, not just a water utility additive.
Three appeals court justices are being asked to break new ground. A decision in our favor will have state-wide effect, and will be cited nationally. The lawyers will do the talking, but the sense of support from the audience is also going to be critical.
Eloise Kailin, M.D. citizen of Clallam County
Court of Appeals – General Information website:
http://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/?fa=atc.display_divs&folderID=div2&fileID=geninfo
Court Location: 950 Broadway, Suite 300 Tacoma, WA 98402
http://maps.google.com/?q=950+Broadway+Tacoma+WA+98402
UPDATE ON PORT ANGELES/FORKS WATER FLUORIDATION
From website: http://www.yes4cleanwater.org/now.htm
In June, 2011 Protect the Peninsula’s Future and Clallam County Citizens for Safe Drinking Water (PPF/Citizens) brought to the Superior Court of Judge Verser their lawsuit alleging that addition of fluoride compounds to public drinking water in Port Angeles and Forks constituted the dispensation of unapproved drugs. The definition of a drug for both State and Federal statutes is “any substance used with intent to treat or prevent disease”. Tooth decay is considered a disease. In Forks the substance is sodium fluoride and in Port Angeles it is fluorosilicic acid. Both are industrial waste products; neither is pharmaceutical grade.
Judge Verser dismissed our lawsuit because of language in a 1954 decision of the Washington State Supreme Court mentioning that fluoridation was not medication.
PPF and Citizens appealed Judge Verser’s action, and asked for direct review by the state Supreme Court. Many months later the Supreme Court refused direct review. The case is now scheduled for a hearing on Monday morning, January 7 at 10:AM before the Court of Appeals, Division 2 in Tacoma.
PPF/Citizens is now joined by two allies who are petitioning the Appeals Court to be heard as Friends of the Court. The political action committee, Our Water Our Choice! which sponsored the initiative, the Medical Independence Act, offers a local perspective to the court. Washington Action for Safe Water, represented by dentist Dr, Bill Osmunson offers a state wide perspective.
Across the nation the attitude towards water fluoridation is changing. An increasing number of cities are abandoning the practice. A nationwide epidemic of dental fluorosis, the hallmark of over-dosage with fluoride, has been documented as affecting 41% of adolescents aged 12 to 15 . There is great concern for increases in bone fractures in later life as fluoride bio-accumulates to high levels in the skeleton and makes bones brittle . These and many other concerns led to recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that levels of fluoride in water be lowered. We assume it was politically impossible for them to stop the practice entirely, given its emotional and financial promotion over the past 60 years.
At any rate we feel we now have a reasonable expectation for a fair decision to define fluoride products added to drinking water as drugs which would then allow application of protective laws relating to drugs. January 7 will be an important day. Please attend this hearing in Tacoma at the Court of Appeals if you can.