Honorable mayor and city council members of the City of Sheridan, WHEREAS water, our most precious resource, is essential to all and the public water supply should be safe for all to drink; and WHEREAS fluoride is the only substance added to public water for the purpose of treating and preventing a health condition in the body, rather than treating the water itself (such as chlorine being added to kill microorganisms), and many citizens feel it is not morally or ethically justifiable to dose citizens with this substance or any other forced medication in water without first obtaining their written informed consent, and WHEREAS fluoridated water provides an uncontrolled dose of fluoride to citizens, some of whom may drink significantly large quantities due to their occupation, outdoor activity, special diet, or health conditions (such as diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus), and WHEREAS the 2011 water report for Sheridan lists the fluoride content of drinking water at 0.5 ppm (parts per million), fluctuating between 0.2 and 0.8 and the CDC recommendation for “optimally” fluoridated water is 0.7 ppm, then the need to artificially fluoridate the drinking water with chemical additives would seem unnecessary, and WHEREAS the National Research Council in 2006 reported that American infants and young children are being exposed, on a body weight basis, to 3-4 times the amount of fluoride as are adults, and young children’s bodies are especially susceptible to harm from chemical exposures due to their rapidly growing cells and tissues, and WHEREAS current direction from the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend that parents and caregivers of infants under 1 year of age may wish to use non-fluoridated water when mixing infant milk formula for their babies in order to prevent the permanent scarring of tooth enamel known as dental fluorosis, and WHEREAS the free-fluoride ion is smaller than the water molecule and is not removed by filtration devices, eliminating unwanted fluoride from tap water requires more expensive distillation or reverse osmosis systems that are not generally economically available to all segments of the population, and WHEREAS alternative methods of delivery exist; and we are already exposed to high levels of unlabeled fluoride in foods and beverages, and WHEREAS each individual possesses the inalienable right to choose or reject what he or she consumes; therefore WE the undersigned citizens of Sheridan oppose spending taxpayer and ratepayer money to fluoridate public drinking water and urge the Sheridan City Mayor, Sheridan City Councilors, and the Sheridan Area Water Supply to stop planning for the fluoridation of public water supply.