Having a choice of candidates at the local level is probably a good thing, but it is certainly going to be confusing to the voters. Almost certainly, we will face run off elections a month after the November 6 election. To win the election, the candidate must poll a majority. So, pay attention to what they say and do, and to what they have done in the past.

Citizen activist Barbara Eniiti has alerted us to "meet the Candidates at the Farmer’s Market" on Saturday mornings. You can ask questions one on one there. (See article in this issue). This applies to Modesto City Council candidates only.

Another important election for voters within the Modesto High School and Elementary School District is the election for four trustees. The Candidates Forum for these four seats is Monday, October 8 at 7 PM at Tenth Street Place. Both events are shown on the public access Cable Channel 8. The four highest of the seven candidates will be elected; school board members are not elected by seat number.

It has been suggested that you ask the candidates some of the important questions that will reveal how they see their service on the school board. For instance:

• Do your children attend public school? If not, why not?
• What steps do you believe the school district should take to improve our system?
• Are you in favor of the school bonds which are on the ballot? If not, why not?
• How would you propose making schools safer for children?
• Do you approve of the Days of Respect which have been started in our high schools?
• If you are a church member, what church do you attend?
• What is your view on the teaching of evolution versus creationism?

Nearly every school board in the county has an election this November, as well as the Modesto Irrigation District,, Divisions 2, 3 and 4. Also, many fire districts and other small entities may be on your ballot.

Ballot Measures need close attention

Perhaps the most important decision facing voters in the Modesto Elementary and High School districts is that of how to build enough schools to house the burgeoning population. The only way to get the money is by bond measures. Please note that the High School district covers a number of elementary/middle school districts whose students feed into Modesto’s five High Schools. Those high schools are so overcrowded that, for instance, Davis High School, which was built for 1200, now houses more than 2000. Two high schools are needed right now, requiring a Bond measure of $65 million. The money can be used only for buildings. This is called Measure T.

Many of our elementary schools are in very dilapidated shape, so the other Bond measure , Measure S, for $17 million, will be used to repair older schools, add classrooms, libraries, and other upgrading. (See article by Joe Tornberg in this issue.)

Modesto voters also face three advisory votes:

• Measure M: Shall we fluoridate our water supply, as a dental health measure?
• Measure N: Shall a sewer trunk extension be built to serve the Roselle-Claribel neighborhood ? (thus allowing growth into that sector)
• Measure O: Shall we begin the process of allowing the numerous islands of unincorporated land that are surrounded by the City of Modesto to be annexed?

(this is only the first step in a complex process involving cooperation with the county and the assent of residents within the islands.)

In addition, the following charter amendments must be voted up or down:

• Measure K: Shall we change the City of Modesto’s charter to require term limits for the councilmembers and change the date of election to March?
• Measure L: Shall we require the City of Modest to be divided into districts, with each councilmember running in the district in which he/she lives? (This also would change the date of elections)

ACTION; Don’t forget to register to vote if you have moved or changed your name. And

VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6!!!! If you register too late to receive a sample ballot, you can find your polling place by going to www.smartvoter.org. This Internet site is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the County Elections Department. Type in your address and the polling place will come up on the screen. If you do not have a computer, you can get help at the county library or call the elections department., 525-5200. Not all counties have smartvoter. We have been informed by the elections department. that people who register near the deadline (Oct. 22) will be too late to get a sample ballot, so register early!!

A local website (http://nofish.org/) proclaims fluoride’s dangers by offering supposedly sound research linking fluoride to everything from brain damage to cancer, from thyroid problems to hip fractures. How is a voter to make an informed choice on Measure M allowing Modesto to fluoridate its municipal water supply?

One solution: take a friend with a Ph.D. in Research Design with you to visit a medical school library to peruse journals like Mutagen or Brain Research. Or study the websites, a method fraught with peril because much of what you find is someone else’s incomplete summary of what the research says, and that someone often appears gripped by paranoiac hysteria, in BOLD letters.

Another choice: follow the recommendations of respected health organizations. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released new guidelines for fluoride use available at www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5014.pdf. These reaffirm water fluoridation as one of the best ways to prevent dental caries. And they provide advice on the use of fluoride toothpaste. Indeed, dental fluorosis has been a problem in communities with fluoridated water, chiefly due to improper toothpaste use and excessive prescribing of fluoride supplements. Parents should supervise their children’s tooth brushing twice a day using only a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste, then spitting it out after use.

Reviewing scientific studies on the anti-fluoride websites is daunting. Much of what purports to be evidence of fluoride’s danger to humans is presented in abstracts from obscure Chinese or Russian studies, from narrow studies done on rats, or from research done on human beings who have been exposed to very high doses of fluoride.

There is no question that concentrated fluoride is toxic and dangerous. The diluted acetic acid that makes your salad taste good will burn your nose off at its 12 Normal concentration. Yet, we continue to use vinegar. No one is going to stick their face in hydrofluosilicic acid, but correctly diluted fluoride will help prevent cavities.

Some examples: two often-cited studies on fluoride and brain damage do not, in my opinion, establish a meaningful relationship to human consumption of fluoridated water.

In "Neurotoxicity of sodium fluoride in rats," By P.J. Mullenix et al., (Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 1995 17(2), rats were given high doses of fluoride [F] in their drinking water. "Weanlings [baby rats] received drinking water containing 0, 75, 100, or 125 ppm [parts per million] F for 6 or 20 weeks, and 3 month-old adults received water containing 100 ppm F for 6 weeks." Behavior was studied. "After fluoride ingestion, the severity of the effect on behavior increased directly with plasma F levels and F concentrations in specific brain regions. Such association is important considering that plasma levels in this rat model (0.059 to 0.640 ppm F) are similar to those reported in humans exposed to high levels of fluoride" (emphasis mine).

The key finding suggests that high exposure to fluoride causes behavioral deficits in rats. The problem is that the fluoride concentrations used here massively exceed those used in human community water fluoridation. And what are the "high levels" in humans that this rat data is being compared to? We are not told. Additionally, the weanling’s mothers were also injected with fluoride. How many human mothers do you know who receive fluoride injections? Lastly, rats are not human beings.

In another noted study, "Chronic Administration of Aluminum Fluoride or Sodium Fluoride to Rats in Drinking Water: Alterations in Neuronal and Cerebrovascular Integrity" by J.A. Varner, et al. (Brain Research 784 1998), abstracted from the anti-fluoride journal, Fluoride, 31(2), 1998, [www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-2/31291-95.htm] researchers gave one of three treatments to adult rats for 52 weeks. The control group’s water was additive-free. One treated group received water containing 0.5 ppm aluminum fluoride (AlF3) giving a fluoride concentration of about 1 ppm. The other treated group had water containing 2.1 ppm of sodium fluoride, to provide an equivalent amount of fluoride (about 1 ppm) as for the AlF3 group.

Results included increased death and brain damage in the aluminum group, no death in the fluoride group but some indicator of brain changes in the fluoride group. What is important for us is that the rat chow fed to all three groups contained both aluminum and possibly fluoride. Furthermore, the rats may have been fed similar rat chow previous to the experiment. Therefore, the control group was not really a true control group. And the rat chow introduced confounding variables into the experiment. This experiment has value for rat research but is worthless for us in deciding whether fluoride is safe in drinking water.

The gross generalizations made by the anti-fluoride side are often not supported by a careful reading of the research cited. Just saying that fluoride causes genetic, brain, or thyroid damage and citing a journal article or abstract is not enough. Critical attention must be paid to research design, method, and populations studied. Hypotheses must be stated clearly. Do the results really support or refute the hypotheses? Are all confounding variables taken into account? Are the control groups really control groups?

So, what is a voter to do? In the absence of evaluating all of the research yourself, use common sense. Millions of people have been exposed to fluoride. If it is so toxic why are not half of those people dead and the other half in hospitals with broken hips and hypothyroidism? Beware of scary rhetoric and overblown claims. In this case, believe the experts from the Centers for Disease Control. They have read and reviewed all of this with a scientific, educated eye. Sure, more research needs to be done, but view fluoridation as a public health measure for Stanislaus County’s children who really do need it.

I will try to lay out the evidence that seems to be building against fluoridation.

But let’s start at the beginning

After reading a 16-page special report by the Earth Island Institute (a non-profit organization)I had an list of health problems associated with fluoride and fluoridation which any voter in November should at least consider.

• Several studies show a link between fluoridated water and increased occurrence of hip fractures: What researchers have found is that fluoride not only strengthens tooth enamel, it may also harden bones, thus make them brittle and more prone to fracture, especially for the elderly.

• Fluoride adversely affects the brain: Russian studies conducted already in the 1970s found that workers exposed to fluoride showed signs of impaired mental functioning. In 1995, Dr. Mullinex, a neurotoxicist, confirmed these studies with tests using animal models (Mullinex et al in Neurotoxicology and Teratology 17, 169-177). She also suggested that fluoride may reduce children’s IQs, which three recent Chinese studies corroborate (Li et al 1995, Zhao et al 1996, Lu et al 2000).

• Fluoride causes genetic damage in that it causes chromosome damage:

• Fluoride weakens the immune system. A Japanese study, states that as little as 10% of the amount of fluoride generally used for water fluoridation may weaken the immune system.

• Dental fluorosis, caused by fluoride attacking the enamel of teeth, which may lead to cracks and fissures of teeth, is a sign of over-exposure to fluoride. The Environmental Protection Agency, in a response to a House of Representatives’ inquiry (EPA letter to the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Sept. 2000, pg. 3), conceded that the number of fluorosis cases has increased since fluoride was approved and regulated by the EPA.

Many new studies confirm and expand on the above, and findings range from fluoride’s adverse effects on people with diabetes and kidney problems, fluoride’s causing of tumors and pre-cancerous growth, to the damaging effects of fluoride on plants (ponderosa pine and peach trees among others).

When I was a child, we got a daily fluoride tablet in school. I hated it but it probably did not hurt me at that point because the issue really is exposure. What was not yet a problem forty or fifty years ago, and what may actually have been beneficial in the right dosage then, is over-exposure and a toxic amount today. Fluoride got into our food over the past decades through the ever-increasing use of fertilizers and pesticides. When testing what we normally eat and drink, researchers have found plenty of fluoride. For example, many of the popular soft drinks "including Coke, Pepsi and Seven-Up were made by diluting concentrate with fluoridated water" and "Kool-Aid, baby formula, etc. also have fluorides added" (William L. Marcus, Ph.D., in Earth Island Journal: Fluorides and the Environment, pg. 11). The EPA in the letter referred to above states that "at least a part of the increase [of fluorosis] appears to be due to the increased fluoride exposure from dental products, processed foods, etc." (pg. 3). Already in 1973, a report by Elise Jerard and J.B. Patrick, published in the International Journal of Environmental Studies, deplores the severe fluoride pollution of everyday foods like spinach, lettuce, milk and meat. Almost 30 years later, the picture has definitely not improved.

Imagine then, if you will, adding fluoridated tap water to all this: the scale will clearly be tipping into the direction of over-exposure, and this, in time, will cause the health problems listed above. When the optimal level of fluoride in drinking water was suggested at 1 ppm (one part per million) in 1945, and when the EPA set the maximum exposure level at 4 ppm in 1986, it was not taken into consideration that fluoride is a cumulative toxin and that we may get awfully close to the maximum level or above it at any given time today

Last but not least, let’s consider the cost – and the waste – of fluoridating our water. Think for a moment about how much water is used for irrigation (in agriculture and our gardens and lawns), by industry, for showers, toilets and other household needs. I believe it would be ludicrous to say that we drink even close to a fifth of our daily water supply in this city, and in light of this, it seems downright absurd to fluoridate our water and have it literally go down the drain. Furthermore, not only is it irresponsible to have fluoride going into the soil and groundwater thereby causing major ecological disruption to plants and animals, but it also comes right back to us via the fruit, vegetables and meat that we consume which only accumulates even higher levels of floride in our bodies.

The question remains: Why do we do this? Municipal communities buy fluoride in the form of fluorosilicic acid (or hydrofluosilicic acid) from the phosphate fertilizer industry for whom it is a toxic waste product. In addition, this fluoride comes with small traces of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, sulfates, iron, phosphorous and selenium, some of which are highly toxic pollutants we usually try to eliminate from our food. For these industries, selling fluoride to communities is, as George C. Glasser puts it, "a cost-effective means of disposing of toxic waste" (Earth Island Journal: Fluorides and the Environment, pg. 14). For us consumers, this deal is a downward-spiraling ride into illness.

The argument that is usually given by proponents of fluoridation hinges upon the alleged benefits of fluoride for our teeth. The following quotes by Dr. Paul Connett, Professor of Chemistry at St. Lawrence University, state otherwise:

• The largest survey ever conducted in the US (over 39,000 children from 84 communities) by the National Institute of Dental Research showed little difference in tooth decay among children in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities (1989 & 1990).

• Modern research (1986, 1997, 1998) shows that decay rates were coming down before fluoridation was introduced and have continued to decline even after its benefits would have been maximized.

• Leading dental researchers and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 1999) are now acknowledging that the mechanism of fluoride’s benefits are mainly TOPICAL not SYSTEMIC.

Please weigh the issues carefully. If you are at all concerned about the health of this community (yours!) and of our environment, vote "no" on fluoridation in November. If the intention of fluoridation is to help poor children with dental decay, as the American Dental Association wants us to believe, let’s work on making dental care accessible to children in poverty. And, let’s teach and model good dental hygiene – which incidentally starts with reducing our intake of sugar, the biggest culprit of dental decay. There are many instances when cities, counties and federal agencies must act for the public good. This is not one of them. There are too many serious studies indicating that over-exposure to fluoride, and thus fluoridation of our water, is simply not safe.

Recommended Resources:

www.fluoridealert.org

www.nofish.org ("nofish" = no fluoride in Stanislaus habitats)

Earth Island Journal on Fluorides and the Environment (available at: Nancy’s Apple Tree Health Foods in Roseburg Square)

If you have a child or know a child in school right now, this will affect their educational future. If you believe students should be able to study in updated libraries, vote yes for school bonds. If you want your child to continue to eat in safe and healthy cafeterias, vote yes for school bonds. If you want your son or daughter to have access to up dated computers to compete in the electronic job market, vote yes for school bonds. If you want your children to work in classrooms with adequate heating and cooling systems, then vote yes on school bonds.

This November, there will be two very important bond issues on the ballot. It is absolutely critical that you vote on November 6. When you vote, bring several registered friends and neighbors who care about children to the polls. There will be a $17 million Modesto City Elementary Bond and a $65 million Modesto City High School Bond that will need everyone's full support. With population increases, Modesto and the surrounding cities are in need of school expansion and repairs to maintain adequate and equal educational opportunities for all.

The two bonds will do a number of things for our children. The elementary school bond will finance the renovation and upgrading of Bret Harte, Roosevelt, La Loma, Mark Twain, Lakewood, Rose Avenue, Enslen, Beard, and Fremont elementary schools. This bond will help continue class size reduction in K-3 classrooms. Also we are currently facing an overcrowding crisis in the high schools throughout the Salida and the North Modesto areas. The high school bond is desperately needed. Everyone's support is crucial to solving this GROWING problem. Two new high schools must be built to meet this ever growing demand on the Modesto City school system.

The new bonds WILL NOT raise your property tax rates. Instead, the new bonds will be paid back after current bonds are paid off, The current tax rate will continue until all bonds are paid off.

Let's show our children we care about their future. This November 6, vote yes on the Modesto City Elementary Bond, and vote yes on the Modesto City High School Bond.

ACTION: Be sure to register to vote, by the deadline, which is now only 15 days before the election November 6. You must register again if you have moved or changed your name. But, be aware that if you register that late, your name may not appear on the polling place list and you will probably not get a sample ballot. The elections dept. has informed us that this new state law (shortening the deadline) makes it impossible for them to catch up with all the late registrants. SO; REGISTER EARLY!!!!! And, if you need help, call the Modesto League of Women Voters, 524 1698