Water District Employee fired for opposing Mass Fluoridation

[Guest guest]

NEWS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Firing of Water Utility Whistleblower Spotlights CDC Reluctance to Address

New Safety Concerns about Water Fluoridation

 

Fired Fluoride Purchaser Sided with Kidney Patients and Blacks

 

With more than 50 communities across the U.S. voting to reject water

fluoridation on Election Day last month, the recent firing of Dalton, Georgia

water

employee Wally Babb for voicing concerns about fluoridated water is focusing

a spotlight on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control near Dalton.

 

In 2007 CDC received a formal ethics complaint over CDC officials’ failure

to publicly acknowledge damaging information about the safety of fluorides in

CDC’s own research and in reports from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and the

National Research Council.

 

CDC Associate Director for Science James Stephens’ response to the complaint

did not address a number of questions in the complaint, including questions

about why the Black community, kidney patients, and others were not informed

of fluoride’s health risks.

 

Purchasing Coordinator Wally Babb notified his superiors at Dalton Utilities

that he could no longer in good conscience purchase the fluoridation

chemical used by the utility after learning that the National Research Council

in

2006 designated kidney patients, infants, and diabetics as “susceptible

subpopulations†that are especially vulnerable to harm from fluoride

ingestion.

 

His stand against fluoridation gained further credibility when the National

Kidney Foundation changed its position about fluorides, forcing the American

Dental Association to remove NKF’s name from the Dental Association’s list

of water fluoridation supporters.

 

The updated 2008 statement by the National Kidney Foundation says that

kidney patients “should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride

exposure.â€

 

Babb also highlighted for his employer a little known state law allowing

Georgia communities to pursue a referendum to opt out of fluoridation, but the

Utility declined to pursue or endorse a referendum. His stance and statements

resulted in his termination by the Utility in November.

 

Dalton Utilities continues to stand by its actions in firing Babb. But a

backlash against the firing and against fluoridation is mounting, particularly

in Georgia and Tennessee, the two states sharing a border near Dalton.

 

The firing has generated a scathing letter of condemnation of both CDC and

Dalton Utilities by the union of professional employees at EPA headquarters in

Washington DC.

 

“Instead of addressing his concerns…you chose the reprehensible and

dictatorial option of trying to silence him,†writes Dr. William Hirzy, Vice

President for the EPA union.

 

In Tennessee, two State Representatives, Frank Niceley and Joey Hensley,

have called for an end to all water fluoridation in Tennessee. Representative

Hensley is a physician and a former fluoridation supporter.

 

Joining Dr. Hensley in speaking out against fluoridation, Representative

Frank Niceley recently stated in a letter to a Chattanooga newspaper editor,

“

Mr. Babb is a hero. He should be commended, not fired for sticking up for

people who are being harmed by fluoridated water.â€

 

Kidney patients and fluoridation opponents in Tennessee are also condemning

Babb’s firing. An open letter supporting Babb is circulating to collect

signatures from Tennessee kidney patients.

 

Black communities in Tennessee and Georgia are learning of Babb’s actions.

“

Fluorides harm kidney patients, and blacks are especially affected by kidney

disease,†Babb says. “And I learned that CDC’s own data show that blacks

are disproportionately harmed by a staining and pitting of teeth called

moderate or severe dental fluorosis,†he adds.

 

Photos of the disfiguring teeth damage can be found at:

_http://www.fluoridealert.org/dental-fluorosis.htm_

(http://www.fluoridealert.org/dental-fluorosis.htm) .

 

Daniel Stockin of The Lillie Center, Inc., a Georgia-based public health

training firm that filed the formal water fluoridation ethics complaint with

CDC’

s joint ethics committees, notes that, “Attorneys are figuring out that

fluoride is the next asbestos. Financial and legal liability fears are why CDC

refuses to answer certain questions about water fluoridation, such as who is to

pay for teeth repair for citizens with moderate and severe dental fluorosis,

and who is to buy unfluoridated water for families with babies that don’t

wish to mix fluoridated water with their babies’ milk formula.â€

 

“Given that 26 million American adults have chronic kidney disease, why

hasn’

t CDC told kidney patients their risks from ingesting fluorides?†he asks.

 

In addition to finding himself without a job, Babb’s firing has jeopardized

health care coverage for his wife who has multiple sclerosis, and who

recently underwent surgery to remove a tumor.

 

Babb and his wife remain committed to their stance. “This is the right thing

to do,†Babb says. “You pay a much higher cost when you compromise on the

truth.â€

 

 

###

 

 

Further information and sources:

 

The electronic version of this press release is available from The Lillie

Center by emailing: _stockin2_ (stockin2)

Text of the EPA union’s letter:

_http://media.timesfreepress.com/docs/2008/12/Babb_Letter_1206.pdf_

(http://media.timesfreepress.com/docs/2008/12/Babb_Letter_1206.pdf)

Contact for Wally Babb: _safewaterindalton_

(safewaterindalton)

Tennessee Rep. Frank Niceley: 615-741-4419 or 865-661-4419

Tennessee Rep. Dr. Joey Hensley: 615-741-7476 or 931-212-8823

Contact for Daniel Stockin: 706-635-7720

Text of CDC ethics complaint:

_http://www.fluoridealert.org/cdc.ethics.complaint.aug.13.2007.pdf_

(http://www.fluoridealert.org/cdc.ethics.complaint.aug.13.2007.pdf)

 

Source:

The Lillie Center, Inc. P.O. Box 839 Ellijay GA 30540 Ph: 706.635-7720 //

Fax: 706.635.8170

 

 

 

 

 

 

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