From: https://tinyurl.com/yg86hv8c (epochtimes.com)

===
            Chinese Fluoride in Tap Water Worries Michigan Community

   "We are dependent on China for too many things" says Village President Ray
   Mach of Port Sanilac
   By Steven Kovac
   August 24, 2021 Updated: August 24, 2021

   LEXINGTON, Mich.-The discovery that a Michigan town's drinking water
   treatment plant has been adding Chinese-made fluoride to its water supply
   for years has some of its residents upset.

   "It's absurd," said Steve Stencel, a long-time restaurant owner in
   Lexington, Michigan. "It's not good at all, buying our drinking water
   treatment chemicals from a communist nation that is our enemy. I am
   surprised that any municipality would buy fluoride for its drinking water
   from China. Our country needs to know this is happening."

   Lexington Village Utilities Director Chris Heiden said the water plant has
   used Chinese fluoride for years without any problems.

   Fluoride is a chemical added to drinking water to help reduce tooth decay.

   The Lexington water plant supplies drinking water to village residents and
   several neighboring communities. It has just under 3,000 customers.

   A downtown apparel shop owner in Lexington said he had no idea
   Chinese-made fluoride was being added to the water supply.

   When he learned of it, he said it gave him cause for concern.

   "It's scary. I can't help but think of the `What if?'" he told The Epoch
   Times.

   One former water plant employee told The Epoch Times, "While I was working
   there, I saw the Chinese fluoride in 50-pound plastic bags stacked on the
   floor. I was surprised and appalled."

   Doug Varty, a residential real estate developer whose new subdivision is
   serviced by Lexington water, said: "It's wrong. I'm not comfortable with
   Chinese-made fluoride. Surely we have American products they can use.
   Buying American is the way to solve the problem. If they have an
   alternative, they should buy it."

   Village President Ray Mach of Port Sanilac, Michigan, whose community
   plans to buy its drinking water from Lexington, told The Epoch Times that
   the use of Chinese-made fluoride makes him uneasy.

   "Look at COVID-19. Remember a few years ago, how baby formula was
   supplemented with melamine in China itself," Mach said. "We are dependent
   on China for too many things. We can't even buy a surgical mask made here
   anymore."

   In 2008, Chinese-made baby formula products were found to have been
   purposefully tainted with melamine. The additive boosted the nitrogen
   content of diluted milk, making it appear to have a higher protein
   content. Out of 294,000 victims, 59,000 were hospitalized and six babies
   died of kidney stones and kidney damage.

   Walt Badgerow, the supervisor of nearby Worth Township, which buys its
   drinking water from Lexington, recently passed a resolution banning the
   township government from purchasing Chinese products if an alternative is
   available.

   "From the moment I learned of the use of Chinese-made fluoride by the
   Lexington water plant I was appalled," he said. "In light of the CCP's
   [Chinese Communist Party] track record of foisting tainted pet food on our
   country and selling us toys colored with lead-based paint, I am very wary
   of their quality control. I won't drink water with Chinese chemicals in
   it."

   Badgerow was referring to the 2007 Chinese pet food scandal, during which
   melamine-tainted pet food sickened and killed cats and dogs in the United
   States. Lead-tainted Chinese-made toys made their way into the United
   States as recently as 2018, despite protective measures put in place by
   Congress.

   Stencel said that in a previous career, he had direct experience with
   Chinese quality control. He once demonstrated a strength-testing machine
   to a Detroit-area truck equipment supplier.

   "The supposedly inspected and certified Chinese-made grappling hooks we
   tested failed before they reached half of the stress load they were
   certified for. That could kill someone. I can't trust what's coming from
   China," he said.

   Utilities Director Heiden said he relies on a couple of independent
   international inspection organizations that subject chemicals such as the
   sodium fluoride Lexington uses to stringent testing as part of the
   exporting process.

   "It may be possible for us to buy American-made granular fluoride. I don't
   know," Heiden said. "Wherever we buy it, it must be NSF approved."

   The two largest independent testing organizations are the National
   Sanitation Foundation (NSF), and Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL).

   Liquid fluoride is readily available from U.S. manufacturers, but
   Lexington and nearby Port Huron use two different dry versions of the
   chemical, which are more likely to be imported. Lexington uses a granular
   form and Port Huron uses a powder form of fluoride.

   A worker from the Port Huron water plant told The Epoch Times that they
   had been using Chinese-made powdered fluoride until the supply chain
   became so undependable that they switched to a Belgian manufacturer.

   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of
   2010, powdered and granulated sodium fluoride such as the one used in
   Lexington made up 15 percent of the water fluoridation products used in
   the United States. Sodium fluorosilicate, another powdered fluoridation
   product, made up 10 percent of the products. Fluorosilicic acid, a liquid
   water fluoridation product, was used in 75 percent of the country's water
   systems.

   The largest producers of fluorosilicic acid are located in the
   Asia-Pacific region, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. Some of those
   producers are Solvay America, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Napco
   Chemical Company, American Elements, and IXOM.

   According to Michele McRae, a commodity specialist at the National
   Minerals Information Center, a handful of plants in the United States
   produce fluorosilicic acid: J.R. Simplot Co. in Wyoming, Nutrien in North
   Carolina, and Mosaic Co. in Florida and Louisiana.

   With the exception of bottled water used as a consumer beverage, the
   United States Food and Drug Administration doesn't have jurisdiction over
   community drinking (tap) water. Such regulation is left to state agencies.

   "People across Michigan and across America need to be aware of our
   increasing dependence upon China in some of our most basic and vital
   functions like our drinking water systems. We can't trust the CCP. We need
   to know what our own water plants are using," Badgerow said.

   PVS Nolwood, the Detroit-based chemical company that supplies the
   Lexington water plant with Chinese-made fluoride, didn't respond to
   repeated requests for comment.

   PVS Nolwood was recently stripped of its National Sanitation Foundation
   certification for delivering four drums of sulfuric acid mistakenly
   labeled as liquid fluoride to the New Baltimore, Michigan, water plant
   earlier this year. The error was discovered by a workman before the
   substance was added to the city's water supply, but a fluoride storage
   tank and a pump were damaged by the acid. No one was injured.

   Mike Bolf of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and
   Energy told The Epoch Times that PVS Nolwood is currently operating under
   its certification from Underwriters Laboratories, which Bolf said was
   "still current and valid," thus enabling the firm to continue doing
   business.

   "Underwriters has assured us that they have increased their surveillance
   over the company and are monitoring its corrective action plan," Bolf
   said.

   New Baltimore ceased doing business with PVS Nolwood right after the
   incident.

   According to Heiden, Lexington suspended doing business with the firm and
   is using an interim supplier.

   "We need to find out what corrective measures they (PVS Nolwood) are
   taking to get back in compliance with NSF," he said.

   According to the CDC, 6.6 million Michigan residents are receiving
   fluoride through their municipal drinking water. The vast majority of the
   fluoride is in liquid form and likely produced in the United States.

   More than 207 million Americans had access to fluoridated water as of
   2018, according to the CDC.

   Adding China-manufactured fluoride to U.S. drinking water is "of course" a
   potential "attack vector" for the communist regime, according to Jeff
   Nyquist, author and expert on Chinese Communist Party subversion tactics
   and unrestricted warfare.

   "If the Chinese government says, `Oh, you make fluoride there for the
   water for the Americans? Hey, we've got an extra little secret sauce for
   your American fluoride.' I mean, that is certainly possible," he told The
   Epoch Times.

   One of the things stopping the regime from doing so is the risk of getting
   caught, Nyquist said.

   "It would be an act of war."

   Is your community's water system using Chinese-made water fluoridation
   products? The Epoch Times would like to know about it. Contact us at
   steven.kovac@epochtimes.us.

   Cara Ding, Ivan Pentchoukov, and Petr Svab contributed to this report.
===

--- Maximus/2 3.01
 * Origin: Outpost BBS // bbs.outpostbbs.net:10123 (618:618/10)