Dear Editor:
This is open letter to the Meeker Town Board and the citizens of Meeker on fluoridation.
Don’t be tricked by the half-truths and misleading statements about fluoridation in community water systems. Fluoridation is supported by every national and international health care or scientific organization.
To name just a few of the hundreds are: American Dental Association, American Medical Association, American Cancer Society, World Health Organization, United States Center for Disease Control and the American Water Works Association. No widely respected health organization opposes it.
The U.S. Surgeon General states that water fluoridation is the most cost-effective, practical and safe means of reducing the occurrence of tooth decay in a community.
Water fluoridation continues to be the cornerstone of community oral preventive programs. Every Surgeon General of the U.S. for the past 50 years has supported community water fluoridation and it is considered is one of the 10 greatest health achievements of the 20th Century.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring element, and the additive to public water is natural fluoride; not a by-product of anything.
Throughout life, fluoridation of water benefits all ages from infants to the elderly.
In the July 10 headline of the Herald Times, every fact stated by the water operations supervisor for the town of Meeker was totally inaccurate and misleading. The town board and citizens of Meeker need to consider the true facts as stated by the hundreds of health organizations throughout the world.
Seventy-three percent of public drinking water in Colorado is fluoridated and there are grants to fund the fluoride equipment and additives.
Dr. Charles E. Vandiver
Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)
Meeker
