Olympic Medical Center Hospital Commissioner Jim Leskinovitch in an Aug. 25 letter to the editor [“Against Chapman”] attacked the candidacy of Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman, complaining: “As a member of the county Board of Health, his duty is to support the surgeon general’s support of fluoridation of community water systems …”
This is a stunning revelation from a hospital commissioner who demands compliance with U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) policy as a matter of duty even for this elected official who sought to safeguard the democratic and medical rights of his constituency.
This duty to believe concept sounds to me like the script for a cult intent on domination over individual freedom of medical choice.
Trust in the USPHS is diminished where policy and a preferred outcome are so evidently intended to be politically dominant.
Mr. Leskinovitch gave us all a wakeup call.
Dr. Bill Osmunson, a Bellevue dentist who holds a master’s degree in public health, testified last year at a public meeting last year at Port Angeles City Hall that had he joined the PHS, he would be constrained by their pro-fluoridation policy.
The presumption of duty to follow policy at the expense of individual judgment throws right out the window any pretext of adherence to scientific principles.
Scientific method tries to avoid preconceived determination of a desired outcome (“bias”) while evaluating measurement of outcomes.
In 70 years, not a single double-blind study has supported efficacy of water fluoridation to reduce tooth decay.
Eloise Kailin,
Sequim
EDITOR’S NOTE: Kailin is a retired physician and allergy specialist who is president of the Port Angeles-based anti-fluoridation group Our Water, Our Choice! and corresponding secretary of Sequim-based Protect the Peninsula’s Future.
