Anti-fluoridation Rally Update (Chicago)
by The Fluoride Action Network
July 16, 2005

Dear All Thanks,

Well we didn't stay in five star hotels and we didn't arrive in limousines, but somehow over 20 fluoridation opponents came to Chicago last week from all regions of the country (Arkansas, California, Colorado, DC, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Vermont) to protest the ADA/CDC celebration of 60 years of fluoridation.

We were a small group but we came armed with a great deal of goodwill and generous support from opponents of fluoridation from around the country and the world. You helped our banners fly and gave a larger volume to our words and song.

We set out to be colorful, creative and peaceful: to open minds not close them. I am not sure how many of the "official" attendees of this 4 day event had their minds opened, but certainly many citizens in Chicago - and several decision makers - were willing to listen to our side of the story.

As we got closer to the opening event in Millennium Park, set for Wednesday July 13, our biggest concern was the weather. The tail end of hurricane Denis threatened us with rain, even thunder storms. So, on Monday and Tuesday, Bill Hirzy and I spent many hours attempting to water proof the beautiful signs (created largely by Michael Connett and Chris Neurath) and the two walking books (these were human size replicas of Chris Bryson's book made into a costume, again beautifully designed and created by Chris Neurath).

However, when Wednesday came, it didn't rain, but unfortunately, low cloud prevented one dramatic statement which we had kept a closely guarded secret. We had planned that, at the height of their opening ceremony, a plane would fly over Millennium park with a banner that read: "FLUORIDE: BONE CANCER COVER UP!" Apparently, the plane did fly over Millennium park but not until the ceremony was over and we had moved on to short presentations that I, Dr. Bill Hirzy, Dr. David Kennedy and Joe Walls gave in the nearby Barnes and Noble bookstore.

The ADA/CDC had erected a marquee in the Chase Promenade North section of the park. We were able to walk up and down with our signs and our Walking Books about 60 feet away from their marquee on the sidewalk entrance to the promenade. We were able to greet the participants as they arrived and left in their limousines. We had several leaflets: 1) a multicolored flyer advertising Bryson's book, and the Barnes and Noble bookstore event; 2) leaflets which explained why you can't trust either the ADA or the CDC on this matter, together with 12 reasons why we oppose fluoridation; 3) a leaflet summarizing the failure of fluoridation to ameliorate tooth decay in Chicago (fluoridated in the 1960's) and Illinois (mandatory fluoridation since 1967); 4) a postcard sized leaflet (designed by Emily Kalweit from Washington state) which read: "Since when is industry's toxic waste good enough to drink? When they call it fluoridation?"and 5) another post card which illustrated (in color) both mild and moderate dental fluorosis. This bore the legend "Got Fluorosis? 30% of children drinking fluoridated water will get fluorosis. 6% will have mild fluorosis like this (top photo) and 1% like this (lower photo). What's fluoride doing to their bones?" We will make these available on our web page as other groups might wish to use these: they are effective and easy to hand out. These postcard sized leaflets do not overwhelm people with information, but both contain some powerful quotes on the back.

If the words on these leaflets gave some powerful arguments, the message as it emerged from Alex Wilson's singing and banjo playing, added the necessary emotion to underline our concerns. Below I have printed the words to his song, "Get it Out" . We will be making a CD available of this song and several others written and performed by Alex. A CD to fight the CDC! Many people felt that the singing of Alex and the walking books were the highlights of our little protest.

Both Gary Forman and Doug Cragoe videotaped the whole action for us. Doug Cragoe is from LA and is in the process of making a documentary on the fluoridation issue and for about 6 years has accumulated interviews from leading figures in this debate. Gary Forman is a film maker and TV producer from Indiana. He has made Emmy nominated programs for the History channel.

Doug also purchased tickets to attend the meeting. We are anxious to hear his account of the three day symposium from the inside. After attending the Millennium park opening he showed us the bottles of "fluoridated bottle water" produced especially for this event! Those attending this opening ceremony included: Julia Childers, former US Surgeon General; Joe Mullen from Ireland; Michael Lennon, head of the British Fluoridation Society; Tom Reeves, former fluoridation promoting water engineer at the CDC and his replacement Kip Duchon; William Maas, the Director of Oral Health at the CDC, and the US's leading propagandist for this measure; Howard Pollick, who has appeared with Maas at hearings supporting mandatory fluoridation in Oregon and New Jersey.

The surprise was that the media was not at all interested in this "celebration". This, despite Chicago being the headquarters of the ADA. So, neither they, nor we, received any coverage for the day's event (We did however get nearly an hour's worth of local radio coverage on the issue - 30 minutes the previous week and another 30 minutes on the day before). However, any disappointment with this lack of coverage quickly disappeared when at about 4 pm we discovered that the Washington Post had carried an article on the bone cancer cover up story (Harvard Professor Chester Douglass's concealing his graduate student's finding on a relationship between fluoridation and osteosarcoma). We became even more excited when we learned that the Associated Press had also picked up the story and it was appearing all over the country. More about this in the next bulletin (and check the homepage). The timing was fantastic! Occasionally, the Gods smile on us.

The next day when we paraded with our placards outside the ADA headquarters, we had a blow up copy of the Washington Post story on a poster and copies to hand out to the attendees of the three day symposium. No story could have underlined our message clearer than this: how could you possibly celebrate 60 years of fluoridation knowing that some children may die of osteosarcoma from being exposed to fluoride?

Apart from the incredible boost to our message and efforts from the coverage of the Douglass cover-up, my most lasting memory of the Chicago week was the wonderful team effort that went into making this event happen.

We particularly owe a huge debt of gratitude to Eleanor Krinsky of NYSCOF- who has fought this matter tirelessly for over 30 years. I don't know how many hundreds of emails she sent out and how many people she contacted over the last few months by letter and phone, but her dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's, made it happen. And she would be the first to admit that she wouldn't have been able to do it without Carol Kopf's support, energy and expertise - especially with the media.

It was through the efforts of Eleanor and Carol that we were able to catalyze the formation of a new group in Chicago called "Chicago Citizens Opposed to Fluoridation". This is being led by Joyce Baunach who put in a lot of leg work prior to our arrival, including helping to set up meetings with some key legislators. As a result of the Barnes and Noble bookstore meeting Joyce has managed to swell the ranks of her little group and with her enthusiasm and dedication, I am sure she will continue the momentum developed in Chicago over the last few days.

Thanks also to Cheri Tips of the National Health Federation for her extensive efforts to publicize this event and for helping us locate Joyce.

A special thanks to Chris Neurath for the many countless ways he made this event colorful and successful - from the Walking Books, the creative posters, fluorosis postcards, to the detailed input to discussions and decision making.

Thanks also to Carol Patton for largely organizing the plane banner, and providing many frequent flyer miles to get key people to Chicago, and many other generous acts too numerous to mention...and likewise to Naomi Flack, who is also celebrating 30 years involvement in this battle (Naomi was also a founding member of NYSCOF). Her support of FAN with such wise counsel and generous financial donations has made such a huge difference to our efforts and our morale. It was wonderful that at the last moment she decided to fly to Chicago from Wyoming and to be with us.

Crystal Harvey from Arkansas. Crystal brought such infectious enthusiasm for this event it was not difficult to see why she had been key in defeating the effort to introduce mandatory fluoridation into Arkansas. If anyone at the ADA/CDC has ideas to try that again, I have a message ready to send to them, "Don't mess with Crystal!"

For that matter, "Don't mess with Pati!" Pat Caputo is from Fort Collins, Colorado. She founded the group Clean Water Advocates, which is now sprouting chapters all over Colorado. Pati and Crystal shared rooms at the Cass hotel where most of us stayed, and I suspect that the future Arkansas-Colorado axis will be formidable!

And talking of infectious enthusiasm - thanks to Dr. David Kennedy and his wife Betty from California. David flew to Chicago in his own plane and brought with him one of the most wonderful smiles in the anti-fluoridation camp. When David is around things are fun and anything seems possible.

Thanks to to Gladys Mitchell for driving in from Michigan and and bringing two friends with her. And to Taylor Moore who joined us from Joliet on Friday.

Thanks also for the people who didn't join us but did so much to make this event happen. Not forgetting my wife Ellen who participated in many critical decisions about press releases, posters, banners and leaflets and who stayed at home to man the phone to field calls from journalists and others.

And finally, a special thanks to all of you who contributed so generously to this effort. It was particularly inspiring for us to receive pledges of $1700 within a few hours of the bulletin asking for help to get Joe Walls, the water engineer in Arkansas who was injured by hydrofluorosilicic acid, to Chicago. Joe presented a moving account of his experiences at the Barnes and Noble bookstore and was a great addition to the "Chicago team".

Thanks to all the Fabulous Fluoridation Fighters everywhere. This will be our year!

Paul Connett

PS On the FAN homepage you can see a picture taken at Millennium park. From left to right: Myself; Michael Connett (first walking book); Pati Caputo (second walking book); Crystal Harvey and Naomi Flack. The white beard behind Patti belongs to David Kennedy; the darker beard belongs to Alex and Joe Walls is behind Naomi.

"Get it Out"
by
Alex Wilson

Come gather round people, listen to my song
It's about fluoridation, won't take very long
got to

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

Fluoridation started in 1945
It's up to me and you to keep truth alive

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

Come down from Florida from the phosphorous plant
Get it from scrubbers, ship it in the can

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

We Americans just don't see
Most of Europe don't fluoridate, so why do we?

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

There's something fishy going on
Fluoride was used to make the bomb

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

Makes your kidney hurt, your back weak
I'd rather get my water from a good clean creek

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

60 years is nothing to celebrate
It's time to face the facts and tell it straight

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!

If we are drinking water, it should be our choice
The history pages have past, please hear my voice

Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!
Get it out
Get it out
Get it out of my water
Cause I don't want to drink it no more!