Fluoride Free Austin is an alliance of concerned citizens from all walks of life united behind the goal of eliminating the dangerous and costly practice of community water fluoridation. Fluoride Free Austin is not a card-carrying, dues-paying organization. It is a fire in the minds of men and women–a fire that will not die until Austin’s drinking water is free of the artificially-introduced, health-damaging hazardous waste toxin fluoride. If you agree with our objectives, then, wherever you may live, you can be a part of Fluoride Free Austin. Welcome on board.

You can actively help our campaign by downloading and distributing our handouts, sending us interesting news items to post and–if you live in the Austin area–emailing, calling or writing to City Council members and signing up to speak before the City Council. You can also take advantage of our Reading Room page, with its outstanding collection of links, to educate yourself and others. Please explore our website and make use of the resources you find there.

PROGRESS REPORT:

What a year it’s been!

On July 3, 2010, celebrated health journalist Dr. Joseph Mercola, honored us by declaring Austin – along with San Diego and Waterloo, Canada— one of North America’s three most important cities in the ongoing battle against water fluoridation. Just days later, several of us met with the director of the Austin-Travis County Department of Health and Human Services and his chief medical officer in discussions that would lead, by summer's end, to the placing of a warning against fluoridated tapwater for infants on the Austin Water Utility website. Still later in the month, two of our members attended the Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) annual fluoride conference at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where FAN director Paul Connett is an emeritus professor of environmental chemistry. The conference theme was activism: we spent a highly productive four days brainstorming with some of the leading lights among fluoride fighters including many of our fellow activists from across the United States and Canada. Thus invigorated, we returned to Austin, though not to relax. Dr. Connett’s The Case Against Fluoride: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep It There (co-written with James Beck, MD, PhD and H.S. Micklem, DPhil) had just come out, and our next three months were spent in a whirlwind of planning for his forthcoming book tour to Texas . He visited Austin (with a one-day side trip to San Antonio) in early November, engaging in a dizzying round of back-to-back activities: speaking engagements at the UT and Huston Tillotson campuses and Brave New Books; radio interviews; appearances before the Austin City Council and the Travis County Board of Commissioners; private meetings with Council aides. His trip was followed by the holiday lull characteristic of university towns and government seats: a breather for us too.

In January, we formed a steering committee to develop strategies for the year ahead, including the massive public education we felt must be the inevitable next step. Before we could proceed far down the path of organizing that campaign, however, another, urgent matter diverted our attention. On February 15, 2011, Randi Shade, chair of the City Council’s Public Health and Human Services Committee, (Shade, Laura Morrison and Mike Martinez) unexpectedly announced that water fluoridation would be placed on her committee’s agenda for its next meeting, March 22. The action caught us by surprise: she had hardly appeared sympathetic during our two and a half years of speaking regularly before a tin-eared City Council. We can only speculate on her motivation. But with Shade up for re-election and facing several strong challengers, her action may well have been in belated recognition that Fluoride Free Austin represents a wide enough swath of Austin voters to be politically significant. Whatever her reasons, it established water fluoridation as an election-year issue ripe for discussion at the election season candidates’ forums, a new venue for us to spread our message. On the day of the event, which Shade termed a “briefing,” a large anti-fluoridation crowd wearing bright yellow-and-blue Fluoride Free Austin badges, thronged the Council Chambers. Our speakers – 10 each in the layman and expert categories – did a fine job with their 3-minute speaking slots, easily overshadowing the much longer canned pro-fluoride presentations by representatives of the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department and Austin Water Utility. At the conclusion of the briefing, Shade announced that her committee would take further action on the subject matter, though she did not specify the time or format. The entire meeting was recorded and is archived on the City’s Channel 6 TV website under the “City Council” tab. Portions of it can also be viewed on You Tube.

Several weeks later, amidst a hotly-contested re-election race between herself and challenger Kathie Tovo, Shade announced a second event, set for May 18, 2011. Called a “work session,” it would allow for no public parcipation. Rather, it would pit two Fluoride Free Austin representatives against two establishment pro-fluoridationists in a quasi-debate format. We chose Austin biologic dentist Griffin Cole, DDS from our local membership, and – in a real coup – paired him with the Fluoride Action Network’s Dr. Paul Connett, who graciously took a day out of his packed schedule to help us out. The opposition consisted of a dentist and an MD, Drs. Delton Yarbrough and Cecil George – both all the way from Fort Stockton. Also participating but mostly silent were two City of Austin fluoride boosters: Dr. Philip Huang, medical officer of the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department and the Austin Water Utility’s Jane Burazer. The debate, played out before an overflow crowd of Fluoride Free Austin supporters, was a rout in our favor. It can be viewed in its entirety on You Tube (Fluoridealert channel), the Austin Channel 6 TV website, the “Fluoride Follies” blog and, for the time being, on this web page, top right.

Meanwhile, May 14, election day showed Shade in political trouble, trailing challenger Kathie Tovo 35% to 46%, and forced into a runoff. On June 18, the day of the runoff, Tovo scored a decisive victory over Shade, winning the Place 3 seat by an impressive 12% margin. This upset throws into limbo the fate of the Council of Public Health and Human Services and its accomplishments under the departing Shade – at least for the time being. It will also require us to deal with a new Council member.

Media coverage greatly increased over the past year, with the local electronic outlets in particular taking more notice of us. FOX, KVUE, KLBJ and KUT have all given us recent coverage. In the print media, Dr. Mercola’s writings continue to keep us in the public eye. We’ve also received a boost from stories in Natural News, the Austin Chronicle, the Daily Texan, and even (a first) an excellent guest op-ed piece in the Austin Statesman by Natica Smith, an LBJ School student – which was incongruously paired on the same day with a minor hit piece by a Statesman political writer who took issue with our use of the word “toxic” to describe one of the most poisonous substances on the face of the earth. These events, occurring in April and May, resulted in an outpouring of support for us and a healthy increase in our membership.

As we said, it's been an exciting year. We look forward to more excitement and progress in the months ahead.

NEW FEATURES: VIDEOS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
We’re proud to introduce two new website features. The first is our video capability. It places three videos on the front page so folks can keep up to date on fluoride-related goings-on at City Hall. These will be changed regularly and will range from 3-minute clips of individual FFA members speaking before the Council during noontime citizens communication to full-length recordings of major events like the historic Public Health and Human Services Committee meeting of May 18, 2011. The second is our announcement space, which enables us to respond quickly to developing news events. Together, they give the website far more flexibility along with a more dynamic look and feel. We look forward to introducing further web innovations in the future.

June 18, 2011