Weaponized News New World Order politics, economics and current events
by Katherine Landerdan | Globe Correspondent | February 2, 2015
Despite widespread belief among US health officials in fluoride’s safety and effectiveness, dozens of activists north of Boston are pushing for communities to eliminate it from water supplies, saying the fluoridation process medicates residents without their consent.
Two local organizations — Health Roundhouse , a group that has focused its activism in Newburyport, and the Cape Ann Fluoride Action Network , made up of fluoride opponents in Gloucester and Rockport — have petitioned local governments to allow residents to vote on the issue.
Twenty to 25 people are actively involved in Health Roundhouse and about a dozen in the Cape Ann Fluoride Action Network, group members say.
Rockport residents will vote this spring on whether to stop adding fluoride to their drinking water. And in Gloucester, a committee is in the process of drafting one or two possible ballot questions; if a majority of the City Council votes in favor of the questions, residents will vote on the issue in November.
Similarly, in Newburyport, petition language is being verified by the city’s attorneys, and the council will then vote on whether to approve the question before it goes to a citywide vote.
In Topsfield, the town moderator is expected to appoint a five-member committee to study the issue. The committee will return with a recommendation to the town at the spring Town Meeting.
Tracey Chiancola, 53, of Gloucester, runs the Cape Ann Fluoride Action network along with her sister, who is from Rockport. Chiancola described the antifluoride movement as a grass-roots effort, and said she and her sister have connected with other activists via social media. They have also attended meetings in other communities to share information and show support.
In the past few months, Chiancola said, they have handed out pamphlets, showed a documentary on the dangers of fluoride, written letters that have been published in the Gloucester Daily Times, and hosted a talk with a representative from the Fluoride Action Network , an organization that says it seeks to educate people about the toxicity of fluoride.
“It’s mass medication, and it takes away the freedom of choice,” Chiancola said of the fluoridation process.
