We Love Clean Water!
Sonoma County — a land that world renowned horticulturalist Luther Burbank described as, “…the chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned” is facing a dilemma involving its water. This situation involves injecting fluoride to some of the purest water in the nation.
So why do officials from the Sonoma County Department of Health Services wish to tamper with our divine drinking water supply? According to a survey conducted by Sonoma County health officials, 51 percent of kids experience tooth decay. Health officials also believe that fluoridating the county’s drinking water will improve the health of residents in the county and reduce the overall costs that are associated with medical visits. Currently, in Sonoma County, only the City of Healdsburg lives under a mandated fluoridation program. Healdsburg joins the ranks of some 70 percent of the American public that are forced to drink fluoridated water.
For every health benefit identified by health officials who support fluoridated water there are a host of health concerns. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), excessive consumption of fluoride may lead to increased bone fractures in adults and increased chance of pits in tooth enamel in children eight years and younger. Although drinking a couple of glasses of fluoridated water may not be harmful alone, a number of food products consumed by Americans already contain fluoride. These include natural products such as raw fruits, vegetables and dairy. They are also present in man-made products such as toothpaste, processed beverages & foods and pharmaceuticals. People also drink varying amounts of water, which makes the consumption levels of a population more difficult to determine. Policy makers that want to implement a policy that requires a population to consume drugged water should be certain about the amounts their population will consume — making sure that every Sonoma County resident doesn’t ingest unhealthy levels of fluoride is indeterminable.
If you’re asking me, this policy seems a bit aggressive. What ever happened to encouraging children to brush more often? Parents, stand by the sink and brush your teeth with your kids. Dentists, be vigilant about showing your young patients how to properly brush and what a mouth of a patient looks like who doesn’t. County Health Department, how about stepping up your public outreach campaigns that includes families, dentists, youth and anyone else whose teeth are at risk of decay. Forcing a population to consume a drug — as listed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — without consent, is unethical and unnecessary given the other alternatives to prevent tooth decay that exist.
As a green business, Blue Beagle Coffee takes pride in functioning as an environmentally conscious business and serving products containing fresh and natural ingredients to our customers. Water quality is a fundamental element to our operation and we don’t believe the Sonoma County Department of Health Services should require residents to consume fluoridated water.
For more information, please visit: http://www.cleanwatersonomamarin.org/get-the-facts/
Written by Adam — Our Earthy Educator
Our in-house eco-guide for what’s recyclable and best ways to conserve, Adam can also be found behind the bar making coffee. He’s got a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from San Jose State University and will continue to help us incorporate ways to help blue go green, in addition to shooting some hoops and scoring points with Jason & Sal on the Blue Beagle basketball team.
Originally published at www.bluebeaglecoffee.com on April 13, 2015.
