FAN Bulletin 2000
December 5, 2009
First, a huge thank you to the seven people who have already sent in donations to support our work in 2010. Between them they have donated $800. This will be worth $1600 to us once we reach our first mini-goal of $1000. Each dollar donated up to that point is worth double, thanks to a generous challenge grant from one of our “angels.”
You can make your donation online or by check. All donations are tax-deductible thanks to the 501©(3) status of our parent organization the American Environmental Health Studies Project (AEHSP). See www.AmericanHealthStudies.org for more details on the activities of AEHSP.
The first donations have come in from California, Colorado, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, British Columbia and Victoria in Australia. Speaking of Victoria please join the effort to prevent the compulsory fluoridation of Mildura and other Victorian towns below.
When you make your donation please indicate to us in a separate email to info@fluoridealert.org if you want to receive any of the DVD prizes that your donation entitles to you. Here is the schedule:
– $25 donation: we will send you 1 plain box DVD, Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation ($50 = 2 DVDs, $75 = 3 DVDs, etc.)
– $40 donation: we will send you 1 fancy boxed copy of the DVD ($80 = 2 DVDs, etc.) - a great Christmas gift!
HOW TO DONATE:
* SECURE ONLINE: at https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=5061
* By Check in US dollar. Make payable to Fluoride Action Network, and send to Paul Connett, FAN, 82 Judson Street, Canton NY 13617
Mildura, the little town that roared
In a press release issued yesterday fluoridation fighters in Mildura, Australia sent a letter signed by fluoridation activists and several scientists from around the world, calling for the resignation of Dr. John Carnie, the Chief Health Officer for Victoria. Dr Carnie continues to force fluoridation on communities without giving them any opportunity to vote on the matter; without be willing to debate the issue in public and without answering basic questions submitted to him in writing by 20 professionals.
This is how you can help this effort.
We want authorities in Victoria to know that the whole world is watching how they deal with this situation, so please consider adding your name to the letter sent to the Victorian Health Minister yesterday, details below. He will keep receiving copies of this letter with the new names added. To sign on to this letter please send your name and a one sentence description of who you are to me at pconnett@gmail.com and Daniel Zalec at
Thus you will have three numbers to watch over the next few weeks:
1) The number of donors in our fun/fund drives.
2) The total $ donated - remember our goal is $50,000 by midnight Dec 31.
3) The number of signers to the letter to Victorian Health Minister.
Thank you in anticipation of your support in both these efforts.
Paul Connett
PRESS RELEASE ? Friday, December 4, 2009
Demand for Dr. Carnie’s resignation
The Anti-Fluoridation Association of Mildura, along with other Victorian safe water groups, and a number of health and scientific professionals, are calling for the resignation of Dr. John Carnie, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer. The call comes as community discontent with the Government’s mandatory fluoridation policy grows.
Today, the following letter was sent to Victoria’s Health Minister Daniel Andrews.
Dear Minister Andrews,
We are outraged by your government’s continued efforts to force fluoridation on communities without giving citizens a chance to vote on the matter. In this matter the behaviour of Dr. John Carnie has gone beyond anything one would expect or should tolerate from a civil servant. Let us explain.
Most recently Dr. Carnie’s refusal to respond to the basic questions put to him by a number of Australian and international health and scientific professionals, in line with his “no debate policy,” has outraged many in Mildura and around the world.
While Dr. Carnie may truly and honestly believe that fluoridation is safe and effective, public health policy needs to be more than a belief system. It needs to be supported by honest and accurate science that can be defended when challenged. Dr. Carnie has:
a) made statements to the public which are inaccurate as well as others which are biased and misleading (see attachment 1)
b) refused to defend his beliefs in public debate (see attachment 2)
c) failed to answer direct questions addressed to him by Australian and international experts (see attachment 3).
Despite this he is still prepared to force this measure on communities, even when a sizeable number of people in those communities, who have researched this issue for themselves, have made it clear that they do not want to be forced to drink fluoridated water. The only way to determine whether such resistance to this measure is coming from a minority of the population or a majority is to give the electorate of each community the chance to vote on the matter. But this opportunity has again been denied to them by Dr. Carnie. This is a blatant example of the “arrogance of power.”
When politicians behave in this way, at least the electorate has a chance to make their feelings known at the next election, but Dr. Carnie is not a politician but a civil servant making his arrogance immune from normal democratic processes.
The only alternative for those who believe that Dr. Carnie is failing in his job to protect the health of the people, as exemplified by his unwillingness to answer basic questions on a practice he is prepared to force on them, is to seek his resignation. What other recourse do citizens have when their democratic rights are denied?
Thus, we call upon the Minister to set in motion proceedings which will examine this complaint and if he feels that it has merits to remove Dr. Carnie from his position forthwith.
We would add that this issue goes well beyond the dangers posed by fluoridation. If it becomes clear - as it has in this case - that public health policies are not based on sound science that can be defended in public and in writing -it will erode the public’s trust in the institutions set up - at their expense - to protect their health and the environment. The loss of that trust threatens our society in many ways and should not be taken lightly by the politicians running Victoria.
As you will note from the signatures below, this issue is receiving attention well beyond Victoria and the shores of Australia. We expect the worldwide attention to grow as the shocking behaviour of Dr. Carnie is revealed to a larger audience. As Martin Luther King Jr once said, “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.”
We look forward to hearing your swift response to this complaint.
Sincerely,
James S. Beck, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Medical Biophysics, University of Calgary, Canada
Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network, USA
Doug Everingham, MB, BS, Federal Minister for Health 1972-75
Andrew Harms, BDS, former President, Australian Dental Association (SA branch)
Bruce Jager, Chairman, Anti-Fluoridation Association of Victoria
Hardy Limeback, DDS, PhD, former President of the Canadian Association for Dental Research and panel member for the National Research Council Report Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards (NRC, 2006), Toronto, Canada
David McRae, BSc(Hons), Vice-president, Barwon Freedom from Fluoridation, Geelong
Bill Osmunson, DDS, MPH, Dental Clinician, Author, Educator, and Public Health Nutritionist, Oregon, US
Gilles Parent, ND.A., coauthor of «La fluoration: autopsie d’une erreur scientifique», Quebec, Canada
Philip Robertson, BHSc, ND, Carmoora Clinic, Geelong
John Ryan, MBBS, MSc, FRACGP, DCH, FAMAC, FACNEM, FICAN, Brisbane
Jean Ryan, BHSc, Brisbane
Bruce Spittle, MB, ChB, DPM, FRANZCP, author of Fluoride Fatigue (2008)
Daniel G. Stockin, MPH, Senior Operations Officer, The Lillie Center Inc.
Peter Sycopoulis, Spokesperson, Victorian Fluoride Action Group
Kathleen M. Thiessen, PhD, risk assessment professional and panel member for the National Research Council report Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards (NRC 2006), Oak Ridge TN, USA.
Daniel Zalec, BA, MA, Chief Writer, Anti-Fluoridation Association of Mildura
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