Bellevue water problem under control, utility district says
By CLAY CAREYStaff Writer
Officials with the Harpeth Valley Utility District (Tennessee) say they’ve addressed a mechanical problem that fed too much fluoride into water that went out to about 1,000 homes in the Bellevue area.Early Friday morning, the district discovered a “mechanical malfunction” that let too much fluoride into the water system, according to John Brown, general manager of the utility district.The district halted the flow of fluoride into the public water system that morning, and fluoride levels were back to normal in most areas by 11 a.m. Friday, Brown said.As of Saturday night, however, the agency said it had not yet started adding fluoride back into the system.Homes and businesses in Bellevue between River Road and Highway 70 at the Bellevue mall were impacted, he said.The district has already distributed information to most of the customers in the impacted area, he said.In all, the Harpeth Valley Utility District provides water to about 16,000 customers in Davidson and Williamson counties.Utility districts across the country have been adding fluoride to water for decades. Brown said it’s been fed into the Harpeth Valley Utility District’s water supply for at least 25 years. It’s put into the water to strengthen the consumer’s teeth.Too much fluoride can be harmful, but it takes years of overexposure for fluoride to negatively impact a person’s health, Brown said. Levels in the Bellevue area were only out of line for about six hours.But “to err on the safe side,” Brown said, the district is encouraging customers who used tap water to mix drinks like baby formula and orange juice Friday morning to throw those drinks out.
View All Comments
Sir, I am surprised that as general manager of the Harpeth Valley Water Utility Company, Mr. John Brown is not aware of the recent declaration by the American Dental Association and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, together with numerous warnings from scientists, doctors and dentists, that the use of fluoridated water (tapwater) is NOT recommended for the reconstitution of baby and infant formula AT ALL! And that fluoridated water should not be given to children under the age of 1 year as this is the age which is most important in the formation of and whether they will have fluorosis (staining of the teeth) or not on their PERMANENT teeth. Yours, EUES IrelandPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:29 am
While this story about a “malfunction” in feeding a deadly toxin into the public water supply is important, it appears that neither Mr. Carey nor his editor fully recognizes this importance. They apparently sense that there is something worth reporting, but Mr. Carey’s approach is to assure the reader that despite this mishap, all is well in Smallville, as well as in Metropolis. Mr. Carey regurgitates what the utility manager blithely tells him about the accident without giving the reader any sense of the potential gravity of the situation (people have died or have been severely injured by such “malfunctions”) and also without acknowledging that there are major medical and ethical questions about the practice of dosing citizens with a poison, which is more toxic than lead and only slightly less toxic than arsenic, without their informed consent. Furthermore, he has not bothered to research the fact that the fluoridating agent also contains, as acknowledged by the CDC, small amounts of arsenic, lead, and even radioactive elements, because it is toxic waste! Any amount of lead or arsenic increases the rate of cancer in the population. See the recent report by a distinguished panel of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (March 2006) for some of the important issues. Citizens need journalism that helps them to weigh thoughtfully the alternatives and assorted factors before making any fateful decision (e.g., whether or not to allow fluoridation to continue). True journalism also emphasizes the ethical and moral choices inherent in decisions that can never be settled even by having all the facts. Journalism that is well thought out and well executed can help people to think and decide rather than simply to believe uncritically what they are being spoon fed by a media reporter. And, Mr. Carey has shown that he is just that--a reporter--not a journalist. As a responsible citizen, I want to know what someone other than a utility manager has to say about the potential for damage of such mishaps. He is not a toxicologist, nor is he a doctor, nor is he even informed on the subject, or he would have known that it is unsafe to mix infant formula with fluoridated water. But, obviously, he is a true believer in what he has been told and so, apparently, is Mr. Carey. Journalists ask questions, a lot of them! They don’t just accept. And, they explore all sides of an issue, especially one as controversial as fluoridation. Or take aspartame as yet another example of politically generated and unconscionable FDA approval of a deadly toxin as safe for human consumption. It has been reported that the Pentagon once listed aspartame in an inventory of prospective biochemical warfare weapons submitted to Congress. Reporters write what they are told to write, either by their interviewees or by those with the power to compel. Journalism is a dying art. Bravery is a dying virtue. But, it is a bull market for propaganda it seems.Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:24 am
No comments:
Post a Comment