Speakers Clench Their Teeth In Opposition To Fluoride
Before the region’s oral health coordinator even opened her mouth about fluoride, the audience was jumping down her throat.
Dr. Michele Vanderlinde gave a 10-minute report Thursday to the Spokane Regional Health District board on fluoridating area drinking water. Packets of information were handed out highlighting fluoride’s positive effects on tooth decay and addressing negative claims.
The board, which now has 11 members, had asked for information about fluoridated water last fall.
About 25 audience members crammed into the meeting, most of which ended up being devoted to fluoridation. Eleven people streamed up to the microphone, all railing against fluoride and its effects.
They held up books and pointed to studies supporting their views. Some clutched pamphlets, one of which was titled, “Murder! By Fluoride!”
One retired dentist said he had fought against fluoridation most of his professional life. An advocate for the disabled said people would be endangered by fluoride in the water. One woman, sensitive to pesticides and other chemicals, said she doesn’t want to live in a community with fluoridated water.
“We’ve got to stop this,” said Vicki Preston, a cancer patient who worried about fluoride eating away at people’s immune systems. “We’ve got to finally come to a point where enough is enough.”
Most fluoridation opponents seemed concerned that the health board is trying to slip something by the people without a vote. They wanted to turn Vanderlinde’s informational report into a public hearing.
“It’s simply a report,” board President John Roskelley, a Spokane County commissioner, repeated at least three times.
After the public comment period, Vanderlinde stepped up to the microphone. She recited statistics showing that disadvantaged children suffer most from dental problems.
Spokane is considered to be high-risk for dental disease, Vanderlinde said. Fluoridation reduces tooth decay by at least 40 percent, more than 100 studies show, she said.
In response to audience concerns, Vanderlinde admitted that fluoride can be toxic at high enough levels.
“Anything in excess is going to have toxicity,” she said. But the level used to fluoridate water is about one unit of fluoride for every 1 million units of water.
Fluoridation has been a contentious topic in Spokane for decades. Voters rejected attempts to fluoridate the city’s water in 1969 and 1984.
About 145 million people nationwide, or 62 percent of the country’s population, drink fluoridated water. That includes residents of 45 of the nation’s 50 largest cities. Cheney, Fairchild Air Force Base, Sandpoint and Pullman all have fluoridated water.
The health district doesn’t have any authority to force fluoridation on communities or water districts. But it could decide to hold a public hearing on the subject and to adopt a resolution favoring fluoridated water. That resolution could be passed on to cities and water districts.
Opponents worried that Thursday’s report is the first step toward full-fledged fluoridation. They asked board members to study the issue carefully.
“Wake up, wake up,” said Rosemarie Waldram, who helped lead the challenge to the 1984 attempt to fluoridate drinking water. “Don’t just keep taking what’s spoon-fed to you.”<
, DataTimes