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January 29, 2003
Senator Jim Jensen of Omaha, introduced a bill (LB 473) in the Nebraska Unicameral on behalf of the American Dental Association, to require cities and villages with a population of 1,000 or more to add fluoride to their water. This would affect the communities of Grand Island, Scottsbluff, Norfolk, North Platte, Hastings, Beatrice, Gretna, Ashland, Wahoo, Seward, David City, Sidney, Schuyler, Broken Bow, Chadron, Cozad, Gothenburg, Lexington, Geneva, Aurora, Crete, Central City, Madison, St. Paul, Kimball, Milford, Ord and York.
The public hearing on LB 473 will be February 19, 1:30 p.m., Room 1510, State Capitol, Health & Human Services Committee.
Debate over fluoride in water isn't crystal clear
by Jeremy Olson, Omaha World-HeraldOmaha voters approved fluoridation May 14, 1968 by a vote of 54,185 in favor to 39,827 opposed. M.U.D. adds only enough fluoride (hydrofluorosilicic acid) to the natural content in raw water to bring the total level of fluoride to one part per million. Safe Drinking Water standard is 4 ppm. The highest level detected in 2001 was 1.1 ppm.
The public hearing on LB 473 will be February 19, 1:30 p.m., Room 1510, State Capitol, Health & Human Services Committee.
Debate over fluoride in water isn't crystal clear by Jeremy Olson
When Omaha debated whether to add fluoride to its drinking water in 1951, a director of the Metropolitan Utilities District offered this viewpoint:
"I understand that when the Russians occupy a country, they put that stuff in the drinking water to deaden people's minds."
The late Frank Frost helped keep fluoride out of Omaha's water until 1968.
Late last year, federal officials lauded Nebraska for joining a majority of states that provide fluoridated water to 75 percent of their residents. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers fluoridated water one of the greatest health innovations of the 20th century because of its proven ability to prevent cavities.
A proposal under consideration by the Nebraska Legislature this session would increase the state's use of fluoride by requiring all cities with a population of more than 1,000 to fluoridate their water supplies.
But a few die-hard Nebraskans still share Frost's fervent opposition, mostly because of conflicting medical research over fluoride's benefits and its potential for harm. Conspiracy theories persist as well.
Take Wesley Trollope, who is gathering petitions in York, Neb., to override last year's City Council decision to fluoridate the water in the city of 8,000.
He said his organization has already collected enough signatures to force the issue onto a ballot, but he is trying to collect more before next month's deadline because he suspects some signatures will be disqualified.
Trollope can quote many medical studies suggesting that fluoride is harmful, but an underlying concern is whether the chemical is being added to the water as a measure of government control.
His potential enemy isn't Communist Russia, but rather the World Health Organization. Trollope speculates that the organization's support for fluoridated water could even be part of a plot to create a socialistic world government.
"How else are they going to get people to give up their freedom?" he asked.
The entanglement of the public health debate over fluoride with such conspiracy theories can cloud the issue. Type in the term "fluoride" in an Internet browser and many radical theories will be easier to find than the government's own information in support of its use.
But this is more than just an issue of politics or privacy rights. (Many opponents believe it is wrong to subject people to fluoride, a medication, without their consent.)
Several European countries have rejected fluoridated water, and some American cities continue to vote down such proposals on the basis of health concerns. The fluoride content in many commercial foods and beverages, including soda pop, also raises the question of whether fluoridated drinking water is still needed.
What is known for sure is this: The consumption of fluoridated water can reduce the rate of tooth decay in a community by as much as 40 percent to 60 percent.
It is no coincidence that Nebraska's Medicaid program spends substantially more on dental care in communities that don't have fluoridated water, said Kim McFarland, dental health director of Nebraska Health and Human Services. It is also no coincidence that lawmakers are considering the inexpensive dental benefits of fluoridation while they also are pondering cuts to Medicaid dental benefits.
On the other hand, consumption of too much fluoride by children, primarily those younger than 8, can lead to a condition known as fluorosis, which is a cosmetic condition that results in discolored or "mottled" teeth.
Children who swallow toothpaste are at risk for this. The CDC recommends that parents teach their children to spit out toothpaste and for manufacturers to create a low-fluoride toothpaste for kids.
What remains a matter of dispute is whether consumption of too much fluoride can cause more serious problems, such as a weakening of the bones.
The CDC recommends that people above the age of 9 consume 2 to 4 milligrams of fluoride a day and that younger children consume less than that. Health officials believe people would have to consume 10 milligrams a day for 10 years before fluoride would pose any ill effects to their bones.
Recent research has shown that many people can consume the recommended amounts without fluoridated water. Adults will reach the minimum recommended amount if they drink two liters, regardless of whether they drink fluoridated water or other beverages.
Fluoride opponents point to research showing far more severe consequences than discolored teeth: suggestions that fluoride has a relationship to bone fractures, arthritis, cancer and thyroid disease.
Fluoride supporters and federal health officials dismiss much of this research, which they believe was completed by unqualified scientists and without the necessary checks and balances to eliminate bias.
Some of the opposition comes from the origin of fluorosilicic acid, the type of fluoride compound that is most often used in water supplies. The substance is a byproduct of an industrial process used to make fertilizer phosphates.
Opponents see the continued push for fluoride use as a convenient and profitable way for influential industrialists to get rid of what would otherwise be characterized as toxic waste.
Some of their concerns even hearken back to the role of fluoride compounds in the Manhattan Project experiments and a suspected link between the atomic bomb project and early testing of fluoridated water on the public.
When the U.S. Institute of Medicine formed a group in 1997 to determine the recommended daily intake of fluoridated water, Dr. Robert Heaney of Creighton University in Omaha took part. Heaney, an expert on bones and osteoporosis, supports fluoridated water. Studies showing fluoride's harm to bones are contradicted by studies showing that it strengthens bones, he said.
"On balance, this is what you would expect if there were, in fact, no effect at all," he said. "Random chance alone will sometimes give you 'significant' associations, one way or the other."
McFarland, the state dental official, said she has heard reports from dentists that cavities are on the rise in families that drink bottled water, which doesn't always contain fluoride.
"It benefits everyone -- rich, poor, young, old," she said. "One of the great things about water fluoridation is it doesn't discriminate."
Trollope sees the exact opposite: Only people who can afford bottled water, or expensive reverse osmosis systems for their tap water, can do anything to eliminate their fluoride intake.
"For the people that want fluoride, they can get that anyway," he said. "It's hard to buy toothpaste without it. It's practically impossible."
Dentist Mark Brouillette brought the issue of fluoridated water to York, which he said seemed "kind of backwards," considering that the majority of the state already has it. The York dentist said the state is willing to chip in the startup money for water fluoridation.
He said it will be disappointing if Trollope succeeds in halting or delaying fluoridation of the town's water, but added he will campaign for it if it must be put on the ballot.
"(Trollope) swears it's poison, and he's got a few followers," he said. "They think it's communistic to not vote on it."
Editor's note: Omaha voters approved fluoridation May 14, 1968 by a vote of 54,185 in favor to 39,827 opposed. M.U.D. adds only enough fluoride (hydrofluorosilicic acid) to the natural content in raw water to bring the total level of fluoride to one part per million. Safe Drinking Water standard is 4 ppm. The highest level detected in 2001 was 1.1 ppm.