Chinese Fluoride In Mass. Water Raises Concern

Nothing to see here folks, the Fluoride imported from China is safe.




AMESBURY, Mass. -- Fluoride is added to the water most of us drink because the government believes it's a safe and inexpensive way to prevent tooth decay.

However, Team 5 Investigates found the Amesbury Water Department pulled fluoride from its system amid concerns about its supply from China.

Department of Public Works Director Rob Desmarais said after he mixes the white powder with water, 40 percent of it will not dissolve.

"I don't know what it is," Desmarais said. "It's not soluble, and it doesn't appear to be sodium fluoride. So we are not quite sure what it is."
Desmarais said the residue clogs his machines and makes it difficult to get a consistent level of fluoride in the town's water.

Since April the fluoride pumps in Amesbury have been turned off and they will stay that way until Desmarais can find out what's in the fluoride that's imported from China.
Both state and federal health officials told Team 5 Investigates that Chinese fluoride is safe.

The Department of Public Health said it believes that more than 650,000 customers in 44 Massachusetts communities are getting the flouride in question and only Amesbury has temporarily stopped using it.

However, they were unable to say with certainty which of the other 43 communities are actually using the sodium fluoride from China in its water.

The fluoride from China is not used in communities getting water from the MWRA.

The New York company that supplies the fluoride said it is certified by the National Sanitation Foundation which assures the quality of the product.

Approximately 1,000 water systems in the United States use the additive to adjust the fluoride in their water supply, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Testing continues to determine the precise composition of the residue.

"They should test it to make sure...it is safe for us to drink," said Paul Stewart who lives in Newburyport. He said he has a right to know exactly what's in his water.

"On the same day that I read the story about fluoride coming from China, I also read about stories about melamine that was being contaminated in milk products coming from China," Stewart said. "And then we had another story about more lead in kids toys from China."

Since 2007, most of the sodium fluoride has been imported from China because it's the least expensive on the market.

"I don't think that when it comes to something that I ingest every day that the lowest bidder is good enough," Stewart said.

Fluoridated water, Martinelli’s juice products don’t mix

John Martinelli, owner of S. Martinelli & Co., shown here with a new line of Martinelli Fruit Virtues beverages, is concerned about the City of Watsonville adding fluoride to its drinking water. (Photo by Tarmo Hannula)


Fluoridation of Watsonville’s water is the only topic on Tuesday’s City Council agenda, and with the apparently imminent decision to accept funding to fluoridate, John Martinelli, owner of S. Martinelli & Co., is very concerned.

Martinelli said Friday that he doesn’t know what he will do if the city opts to fluoridate, but he does know he won’t use the water in his product.

“Fluoridating the water is a very adversarial thing to do from our perspective,” Martinelli said. “We simply are not going to put it into our product — period.”

Martinelli says he isn’t convinced fluoridated water is completely healthy. European countries do not fluoridate their water due to a range of health concerns, including the heavy metals that are also introduced into the water with the fluoride, the fact that the dosage of fluoride one receives can’t be controlled, and that it may cause osteoporosis later in life. In 2002, the Belgian government announced that it intended to become the first European Union government to outlaw fluoride-related products — with the exception of toothpaste — on health grounds. The country’s health minister, Magda Aelvoet, claimed that too much fluoride could damage the nervous system and might cause osteoporosis, especially in children, although she conceded it was effective at preventing tooth decay.

New social sites post more personal information

While many internet users are fretting about preserving their online privacy in the age of social networking phenomenon Facebook, a new breed of digital natives is actively stripping away the last vestiges of anonymity.

They are broadcasting their thoughts, plans and even their locations and purchases to the web, using new services that post intimate personal information in real time.

What began with status updates on Facebook and Twitter has evolved into services such as Blippy, a website which automatically publishes everything a user buys with a credit card to a short, Twitter-like feed for all to see. Launched in December, Blippy has gathered more than 10,000 users who share information on about $250,000 worth of purchases a day.

"There's a clear value proposition to sharing that data," said Ron Conway, a prolific investor who has backed Blippy. "People are curious about other people's buying habits and choices." Mr Conway said seeing what other people are buying and where they are going serves as a valuable recommendation and discovery tool on the internet.

Another new set of internet services allows users to "check-in" to locations via their mobile phone, broadcasting their whereabouts to the web. One of these, Foursquare, has about 160,000 users, while MyTown, a similar service, attracted 500,000 users in one month of operation.

The new services reflect a growing sense among technology's early adopters that it is safe, and even beneficial, to share private information.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive, articulated this ethos in a recent interview in front of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said. "That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."

Mark Hendrickson, chief executive of Plancast, a service which allows users to share their travel plans online, said Mr Zuckerberg's statements "reflected a common perception that people have become a lot more comfortable sharing information about themselves".

Concerns about putting one's itinerary online for public viewing are overblown, he said. "As people put more content about themselves online and push boundaries, they're finding it's not as dangerous as it might have been."

One advantage of these services can be to foster real world interaction, argues Dennis Crowley, Foursquare founder. "You're always in these different spots and missing people by a couple of blocks . . . What if you could see through walls or around corners?"

By knowing where one's friends are in real time - as Foursquare makes possible - or knowing where they are travelling to - as happens on Plancast - people have a better chance of connecting with each other at cafés, clubs and concerts.

The early popularity of the services also suggests that the knowledge of what friends are doing can inspire imitation. When Blippy co-founder Philip Kaplan bought tickets for a Lady Gaga concert, his followers on Blippy saw the purchase and bought tickets for themselves.

Ron Paul wins CPAC presidential straw poll

Talk about your political upsets.

Rep. Ron Paul, hero of a fervant band of libertarians, unexpectedly won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference today, claiming 31% of the votes cast.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has carried the survey for the past three years, was second at 22%.

The straw poll is unscientific but is sometimes seen as a show of organizational strength among presidential hopefuls. However, Paul, who made a longshot bid for the Republican nomination in 2008, has given no indication he plans to run again.

"It is clear that Paul brought a lot of people" to CPAC, said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who ran the straw poll.

Fabrizio said 2,395 of a reported 10,000 attendees voted. It was the most votes in the history of CPAC -- about 40% higher than last year, he said.

Fabrizio noted that Romney's support was about the same as in last year's straw poll but that support for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and former House speaker Newt Gingrich was cut by about half.

Palin was at 7%, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 6%, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence at 6% and Gingrich and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee at 4%.