Fluoride Shortage in U.S.

Fluoride shortages abound throughout US

Friday, May 11, 2007

EVANSVILLE, INDIANA — A fluoride shortage has been reported in this city as well as other cities in the Midwest and along the East Coast, a May 11 Courier Press story reported.
In Evansville, fluoride has not been added to the water since last February, and the company that runs the city's treatment plant has not been able to get more.
The water quality manager for American Water Enterprises at Evansville, Mary Armacost, said the shortage is due to damages caused by Hurricane Katrina at fluoride processing facilities, according to the State Board of Health.
Armacost said in the story that everyone is facing the same problem, and the company has looked to many other vendors without luck. She said suppliers are no longer saying when supplies will be back to normal.
Another cause of the shortage is due to a slump in the phosphate mining industry.
Early this year, distributors in Florida were quoted as saying that fluoride had been in short supply for 18 months following the closing of one of the state's major mining companies and a production problem at another, as reported by WaterTech Online™.
The Florida distributors had also said the cost of the compound was skyrocketing due to demand and the fact that there weren't a lot of companies to produce it. A number of Florida water systems were forced to cease fluoridation earlier this year at least temporarily, due to the shortage.

Don't they realise that the fluoridation was really only for the convenience of industry anyway! If they don't produce it there is no need to dispose of the toxic waste in the public water supply. They should thank their lucky stars!