Fluoridation bad idea for Lebanon

The planned merger of Lebanon’s water to Greater Cincinnati Water Works (DDN, Sunday, Feb. 27) is a grave, misguided mistake.

The citizens of Lebanon, having wisely passed a referendum in 1970 to exempt their community from water fluoridation, reside in one of only 23 Ohio communities exempt from the 1969 Ohio law mandating water fluoridation for municipalities serving more than 5,000 residents.

Lebanon city leaders are poised to impose their majority will on the people and effectively poison their residents beginning in January 2013. Did the citizens have a vote on this issue? Have they given their informed consent to this mass medication? Do they realize that once in the GCWW system, they cannot get out?

The drug that GCWW puts in their water is not natural fluorine, which usually is composed of both fluorine and calcium atoms; rather, it is fluoride in the form of silicofluoride, which is toxic.

Silicofluoride is a man-made chemical waste mainly of the aluminum and fertilizer industries in America, costly to dispose of in toxic-waste dumps and now being heavily imported from China.

Ostensibly approved as a preventative medication to reduce tooth decay, fluoride’s efficacy has been wildly hyped, but never credibly proven. What has been proven, however, are not only fluoride’s toxic effects on teeth by dental fluorosis, but also systemic and skeletal damage to all animals, including humans.

Those opposed to fluoridation will have to purchase expensive fluoride-removal water filtration systems. If the Lebanon city leaders succeed in fluoridating the town’s water system, the choice for all hapless Lebanon citizens will be to buy fluoride filters — or become fluoride filters.

Carolyn S. Weddington

Harrison Twp.