2009 Pennsylvania Mandatory Fluoridation Bill Alert!

Pennsylvania HB 1382 was introduced by Democrat Rep. dePasquale on April 29, 2009 and referred to the PA House Health & Human Services Committee. (This bill apparently replaces Republican Rep. Barrar's HB 584.) In the past two legislative sessions, this bill breezed through the H&HS committee with no hearings.

Action is needed to make sure this bill dies in committee!

Call and email State Representative Oliver and ask that before HB 1382 is voted on, they need to have balanced hearings, presenting the pros and cons of water fluoridation. Tell him that you oppose the bill and that it's too controversial of a topic to keep pushing through without hearings. No hearings have been held on the issue in over 20 years and none of the new science on the topic have been presented to the legislature.

Go here for talking points: 10 Reasons to Oppose HB 1382 / Mandatory Fluoridation

Check the bill's latest status.

Check here to see how your House representative voted on this issue in 2006.

State-wide mandatory fluoridation legislation has been proposed in nearly every legislative session since 1987, but none have become law.

House Bill 1382, The Fluoridation Act, would force water fluoridation on all Pennsylvania drinking water systems serving over 500 customers. This means that water fluoridation would roughly double, from around 50% to 98.1%.

All customers will still be affected when they purchase food products made with water in fluoridated communities.

Due in part to the efforts of Pennsylvania activists, these legislative attempts to force fluoridation were stalled, but now they are back and moving.

We can do it! Contact your state representative and tell them that you oppose mandatory fluoridation: If your rep is listed as a sponsor (see 'introduced by'), please contact them and ask them to drop their sponsorship of the bill. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

The Top Ten largest water systems which will be impacted by the Fluoridation Act are:

County     Customers  Water System
Montgomery+  820000   Aqua PA Main System
Erie         180000   Erie City Water Authority
York         153123   The York Water Co
Westmoreland 140000   Westmoreland Municipal Authority - Sweeney Plant
Lackawanna   134570   Pa American Water Co - Lake Scranton
Fayette      130000   Westmoreland County Municipal Authority - Yough Plant
Montgomery    87954   PA American Norristown
Dauphin       86500   United Water Pennsylvania
Montgomery    69199   North Penn Water Authority
Montgomery    64257   North Wales Water Authority

10 Reasons to Oppose HB 1382
(go here for talking points)

Toxic Waste in Your Drinking Water? Just say NO
A new Safe Water Bill? Just say YES

Find e-mail and telephone information for your state representative here (contact representatives at their Harrisburg locations, rather than their local offices)

Contact local media outlets and make your opinions heard here

Promote the bill for safe water here, while opposing fluoridation bill

*From above: Given that there are 10,467,565 water system customers in the state, this would increase the number of forced fluoridation customers from 4,989,184 (47.7%) to 10,110,814 (96.6%). When including customers affected by secondary fluoridation (a non fluoridated system with water from a fluoridated system), the increase will be from 5,479,723 (52.3%) to 10,120,143 (96.7%).

Last modified: 1 June 2009

http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/bills/