JAMES ROBERT DEAL ATTORNEY PLLC
PO Box 2276, Lynnwood, Washington 98036-2276
Telephone 425-771-1110, Fax 425-776-8081
James@JamesRobertDeal.com
April 9, 2012
Tom Thetford
Sent by fax to: 425-257-8882
Mark Meeks
Sent by fax to: 425-257-8882
Also sent by email to: everettpw@ci.everett.wa.us
Ray Stephanson, Mayor
Sent by fax to: 425-257-8729
Also sent by email to: kreardon@ci.everett.wa.us
Everett City Council
Paul Roberts, PRoberts@ci.everett.wa.us
Jeff Moore, jmoore@ci.everett.wa.us
Arlan Hatloe, AHatloe@ci.everett.wa.us
Ron Gipson, rgipson@ci.everett.wa.us
Drew Nielsen, DNielsen@ci.everett.wa.us
Brenda Stonecipher, BStonecipher@ci.everett.wa.us
Shannon Affholter, saffholter@ci.everett.wa.us
Also sent by email to:
Everett Attorney Jim Isles, cwiersma@ci.everett.wa.us
Everett Attorney R. Ramerman rramerman@ci.everett.wa.us
Attention:
Everett turned off the fluoride on February 9 in order to repair pipe in the fluoridation building which was leaking hydrogen fluoride.
I learned on Friday that Everett Utilities will be turning the fluoride back on beginning on Tuesday, April 10. I am again demanding that fluoridation not be restarted unless and until hearings are held regarding the safety and effectiveness of fluoridation.
I pointed out to you that the fluoridation materials you are using do not comply with NSF Standard 60 and therefore do not comply with Washington law. Because the fluoridation materials Everett uses are illegal, fluoridation with those materials is illegal. See details below in the attached press release.
Further, there is overwhelming evidence that fluoride is harmful to the health of all and particularly harmful to sensitive populations, including fetuses and infants.
There is a difference between continuing a bad practice that others before you began. On Tuesday you will do something more than that. You will be choosing to turn the fluoride back on, after being warned that it is illegal and unsafe. You are “owning” the vice, making it your own.
This means that you are heightening the liability of the City of Everett and also heightening your own personal, individual exposure to liability. I am warning you that when and if the fluoride lawsuit comes, you will all be named individually as defendants.
I advise each of you to consult with your own attorney and ask if your legal defense costs and any judgment rendered against you personally will be covered by the city of Everett.
I am most disappointed in your close mindedness when it comes to looking at the legal and scientific evidence on this issue. The only conclusion I can draw is that you are stuck in a cult-like maze and unable to see the exit, choosing to believe profitable lies told by government agencies which are controlled to a large extent by the polluters which the agencies regulate. You must do your own critical thinking and not rely on others to think for you – because you can be liable if you do otherwise.
Councilman Drew Nielsen has stated that the Everett City Council is not a “science court” and therefore it cannot make a scientific decision to turn off fluoridation. To the contrary, fluoridation was begun in Everett by vote of the City Council, and only the City Council can vote to turn it off. The science involved is high school science. The scientific case against fluoridation is so strong that it is not hard to understand.
I have sent this notice to Tom Thetford and Mark Weeks. These two gentlemen have their hands on the machinery which implement the water contamination. Tom and Mark cannot make the excuse that they are merely carrying out orders like good soldiers. Tom and Mark are more informed regarding scientific issues, they actually insert the toxins into our water, and therefore they are personally responsible. They should be concerned not only about civil liability. They should also be concerned about potential criminal liability. I quote from a 2005 letter from the FDA referenced in the attached press release:
Enforcement action may include seizure of violative products, injunction against the manufacturers and distributors of violative products, and criminal sanctions against persons responsible for causing violations of the Act.
I am sending a copy of this letter to City Attorneys Jim Isles and Ramsay Ramerman. I advise you to call them at 425-257-7017. They should be giving your honest advice about the illegality of fluoridation, the potential liability of the City, and your individual liability.
I am sending a copy of this letter to The Herald so the public will know that you have all been put on notice of potential liability.
I will now review the law and the scientific evidence on this subject in order to make sure you cannot deny that you have been put on notice. I will do that by sending you the press release delivered on Sunday April 8 to The Herald.
See https://www.fluoride-class-action.com/press-releases for the full version of this letter and links to supporting references.
PRESS RELEASE:
EVERETT TO RESTART FLUORIDATION ON TUESDAY
ATTORNEY AND SAFE WATER GROUP WARN AGAINST LIABILITY
URGE EVERETT NOT TO RESTART WITHOUT FIRST HOLDING HEARINGS
April 8, 2012
On Tuesday, April 10, Everett Utilities will turn the fluoride back on. Everett tap water has been fluoride-free since February 9.
After 20 years of fluoridation, pipes were leaking hydrogen fluoride and had to be replaced.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120324/OPINION03/703249995/-1/OPINION
Attorney James Robert Deal of Lynnwood, president of Fluoride Class Action has put the Mayor, City Council, and operators of the Sultan treatment plant that fluoridation with current fluoridation materials is illegal because the materials do not comply with state law. He and his group are demanding that fluoridation not resume until after hearings are held as to the safety and effectiveness of fluoridation.
The burden of proof as to safety should be on the party adding contaminants to our drinking water.
Primary contact person: James Robert Deal, 425-771-1110, James@Fluoride-Class-Action.com, fax 425-776-8081.
Fluoride Class Action is an informal group of attorneys and scientists from far and wide who share ideas and work together to warn utility districts of their potential liability if they continue to add industrial grade fluoride to drinking water. Fluoride Class Action posts information at www.Fluoride-Class-Action.com.
You may quote James Robert Deal as saying the following:
On Tuesday Everett Utilities will turn the fluoride back on. Everett has been drinking non-fluoridated water since February 9. Everett turned the fluoride off to replace the pipes in the fluoridation building. After 20 years of fluoridation, pipes were leaking hydrogen fluoride and had to be replaced.
Everett spends around $288,000 per year just on fluoridation materials.
Fluoridation started in 1945 with sodium fluoride, which comes from aluminum mills, and which is not as contaminated as silicofluoride.
ALCOA had sodium fluoride to sell. ALCOA executive Andrew Mellon was Secretary of the Treasury, which then controlled the Public Health Service, which instituted fluoridation without approval by any agency as to its safety and effectiveness.
Although CDC and EPA promote fluoridation, no agency has ever approved sodium fluoride or silicofluoride added to drinking water as safe and effective.
By 1950 most cities switched to silicofluoride, which was cheaper and more abundant. Silicofluoride is the unfiltered scrubber liquor from the smoke stacks of phosphate fertilizer plants. It contains a mixture of dozens of elements and compounds, including large amounts of hydrogen fluoride, lead, and arsenic.
***
The silicofluoride which Everett uses fails to meet legal standards, and so it is illegal to fluoridate with it. Washington law, WAC 246-290-220(3), says: “Any treatment chemicals … added to water intended for potable use must comply with ANSI/NSF Standard 60.” The NSF web site and the NSF Standard for Drinking Water Additives, says that fluoridation materials must pass numerous toxicological tests. However, NSF officials, when put under oath, have admitted that there are no toxicological studies.
(See transcript of California deposition (https://www.fluoride-class-action.com/wp-content/uploads/appendix-e-stan-hazen-deposition1.pdf, pages 22, 67).
Therefore, silicofluoride does not comply with NSF 60 nor with Washington law, and therefore fluoridating with it is illegal.
We go to great lengths to protect children from old lead paint. However, the industrial grade silicofluoride used by Everett contains up to 1.6 ppb lead. It also leaches lead commonly found in pipes and fittings, especially in old schools, old houses, and other old buildings. When fluoridation stops, blood lead levels drop. In 2004 Seattle schools reported lead in drinking fountains at up to 1.6 ppm, a shockingly high level. The same thing is occurring in Everett.
On the litigation front, water districts should take heed of the fluoridation lawsuits which have been filed in federal courts in California, Maryland, and in the Washington courts.
The FDC wrote to one vendor who was making unsubstantiated health claims regarding a product and said that the FDA could ask for criminal sanctions against persons responsible for doing so.
Three safe water groups presented their case to the Seattle City Attorney’s office on January 9.
Fluoride Class Action has written to Jenny Durkin, US Attorney in Seattle and to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking them to bring appropriate action to stop these violations of law. See https://www.fluoride-class-action.com/seattle/us-attorney.
***
Fluoridation supporters rely mostly on endorsements and avoid responding to scientific considerations, as does Dr. Gary Goldblum. (The Herald, “Fluoridated Water a safe, low-cost public health tool”, April 5.)
Endorsements cut both ways. Many respected scientists oppose this strange practice, including Arvid Carlsson, Nobel Laureate in Medicine. Thousands of doctors, nurses, PhDs, dentists and other professionals have stated opposition to fluoridation.
They point out that fluoride is naturally occurring, however, so too is lead, arsenic, and uranium, however, we avoid consuming those minerals.
Fluoridation supporters claim that because dental decay has dropped, therefore drinking water fluoridation is the cause. Proof that there is no connection is the fact that dental decay has dropped just as much in non-fluoride Europe as in the United States. When Cuba and East Germany stopped fluoridating, dental decay rates stayed the same or declined.
Fluoridation supporters say the EPA supports fluoridation, but it is only the EPA administrators who do so. EPA scientists, represented by the EPA Union strongly oppose fluoridation and do so based on science.
Likewise the CDC is divided into pro-industry and pro-consumer camps. While the administrators encourage fluoridation, the CDC also posts scientific articles on its web site which admit that 41% of children are getting dental fluorosis and that the effect of fluoride is “primarily topical” and “not systemic”.
Safe water groups toured the water treatment facility at Sultan. The fluoridation building has powerful fans that constantly suck air up and out through vents on the roof of the building. Nevertheless, there was enough hydrogen fluoride in the air to make me dizzy, and I had to leave the building right away. The window in the door into the fluoridation building was frosted with acidic etchings from hydrogen fluoride in the air.
You may quote Dr. Bill Osmunson, DDS, MPH, as saying the following:
The industrial grade silicofluoride added to our water slowly harms us all. But protecting infants and fetuses is my primary concern. They are hurt the most and the quickest.
Infants and fetuses are most vulnerable because their cells are still dividing and because their kidneys are undeveloped and cannot excrete toxins well. These toxins cross the placental barrier and the blood-brain barrier.
Twenty-five human studies, unrefuted and unchallenged, have reported lower intelligence, especially cognitive functioning, and triple the mental retardation rate in fluoridated areas or with increased fluoride serum concentration. Studies find lower brain weight and increased brain defects in fluoridated areas. We are dumbing down our children.
The CDC and the ADA admit that we are giving dental fluorosis to 41 percent of our children, a biomarker of excess fluoride ingestion during the development of the teeth. Around a quarter of fluorosis cases are ugly and difficult and costly to cover up.
Most dentists believe fluoride is effective topically, via toothpaste and concentrated gels, but many have come to believe that that it does not work systemically and therefore should not be forced on everyone through our drinking water.
The FDA and the Washington Board of Pharmacy agree that fluoride when used allegedly to prevent dental caries meets the definition of a drug. Although it is an unapproved drug, its administration is medical treatment. Informed consent before treatment is a fundamental principle of law, from the Nurenburg Code to modern medical treatment standards. Administering any drug without prior consent is a violation of ethics and freedom of choice.
If a person wants to ingest fluoride they can simply disregard the FDA warning on the toothpaste tube and swallow a pea size amount. Fluoridated toothpaste is cheaper than a fluoridation program. However, the FDA has good science behind its advice that people should not swallow toothpaste.
I supported fluoridation for 25 years – until I studied both sides of the science. I am convinced that someday fluoridation will be considered one of public health’s greatest blunders.
Dr. Osmunson, DDS, MPH, is the president of Washington Action for Safe Water. He is a cosmetic dentist practicing in Bellevue and Portland. Before becoming a dentist, he worked as a professional in public health. Contact Dr. Osmunson at 425-466-0100, bill@washingtonsafewater.com
Dr. Richard Sauerheber, PhD says:
The body needs no fluoride whatsoever because fluoride is not a mineral nutrient and has no physiological function. The absence of fluoride does not produce cavities and there is nothing deficient about the pristine snowmelt water of the Northwest.
Fluoride incorporates into bone irreversibly, where it accumulates lifetime, making bone harder but more prone to fracture, including hip fracture. After a lifetime of drinking fluoridated water, bone can be 12,000 ppm fluoride. Bone fluorosis makes hip fracture more likely. Once the fluoride is in bone and teeth, it is impossible to remove.
The extent of fluoride uptake depends on the ratio or fluoride to calcium and other minerals in water, that is water hardness. Such minerals bind with and tie up some fluoride. Northwest snowmelt water is extremely soft, that is low in minerals, and so total fluoride uptake is greater here than in the rest of the country.
All forms of fluoride are long term chronic poisons for adults and short-term acute poisons for fetuses and babies. Fluoride interrupts enzymatic action and denatures proteins. It is an anticholinesterase inhibitor. There is no safe level of fluoride that may be added to drinking water. The same may be said for the hydrogen fluoride, lead, and arsenic included with the silicofluorid.
If a pregnant mother is consuming fluoride, that fluoride will cross the placental barrier. The cells of fetuses and infants are still dividing. Fluoride interrupts and inhibits enzymatic action. It denatures proteins. It is an anticholinesterase inhibitor. It damages brain tissue and reduces IQ while the fetus is still in the womb. There is no safe level of fluoride in drinking water. There is no level of fluoride in drinking water that is low enough to prevent bone accumulation. Fluoride added into water is not naturally occurring calcium fluoride, but instead is a synthetic industrial compound that is also contaminated with lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and a host of other toxins included with the silicofluoride.
Fluoridated toothpaste should be kept away from children. Too many children lock themselves in the bathroom and eat toothpaste as if it were ice cream and become permanently hypersensitized. Around 1% of the population is so hypersensitized to silicofluoride treated water that they have to move to a place where the water is not fluoridated.
Do not bathe infants in fluoridated water. Their skin is soft and the keratin layer has not built up, and so fluoride penetrates their skin.
Silicofluoride treatment of water has been found to leach lead from pipes and fittings that contain it. Seattle schools and all older buildings have a lead problem. When fluoridation stops, blood lead levels drop. Recent data from the VA Healthcare Center of Los Angeles prove with PET scans that systemic fluoride from the bloodstream incorporates into atherosclerotic plaque in coronary arteries and the aorta in patients with cardiovascular disease, the nation’s leading disease.
Fluoridation is a myth, just like tetraethyl lead, asbestos, tobacco, and DDT. The body needs no fluoride whatsoever. The less fluoride we consume the better.
Dr. Richard Sauerheber can be contacted at (760) 402-1173, richsauerheb@hotmail.com. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry and teaches at Palomar College in San Diego. He has published numerous peer reviewed articles in scientific journals.
See https://www.fluoride-class-action.com/press-releases for the latest version of this press release and to make it easier to follow links.
You may contact Mark Weeks, Everett Utilities Process Analyst for the Environmental Monitoring and Compliance Group at 425-257-8894, 425-257-8878, mweeks@ci.everett.wa.us.
Feel free to call me for interview today Sunday.
Sincerely,
James Robert Deal , AttorneyJames@JamesRobertDeal.com Telephone: 425-771-1110
I read on another site that the Water act of 2003 protects municipalities from civil and criminal prosecution. I haven’t read the legislation yet but would like your comments on this.
I contacted Everett public works and asked when they would re-start fluoride treatments and received this reply:
Project upgrade work is better than 50% complete. Work is expect to be complete before Easter.
The city of Everett will notify the Snohomish Health District and purveyors (City of Marysville) once fluoridatation treatment operations restart.
Best Regards
Samuel Hartley
Chief Operator
City of Everett Water Filtration Plant
425-257-8200
From: Tom Catledge [mailto:tomcat818@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 5:01 PM
To: Public Works
Subject: Fluoridation plant re-start
As a resident of South Marysville I understand the water I drink comes from the Everett water system. Recently I learned the fluoridation plant was shutdown to replace corroded pipes. I could not find an update on the status of the plant\process specifically whether work has completed and fluoridation of the water has resumed. Please let me know where I can find this information.
Sincerely,
Tom Catledge
He also gave me the outlook contact (would not copy over) for Leann Cooper a dental hygentist at Snohomish Public Health Services… I can only assume this means a dental hygentist is the authority for the county on the benefits of fluoride treated water which is very distressing. After Fluoridation resumed there were no public notices given on the Marysville City web page or anywhere else I saw. It seems quite backhanded the way they deal with the public on this issue.
I lived in Snoco in 1991 – 2002 when I was forced to relocate after Terwilliger refused to transfer my protected voting status and was trying to force me to vote in Mill Creek when I no longer lived there. During that time I was active in addressing the fluoride issue. I raised the issue about adding Cargill’s fertilizer waste to the water supply and was barraged with return emails cc’d to almost every bureaucrat in Everett etc. I believe it was Mark Weeks I corresponded with initially. It is well past time that this insanity be stopped.