Preventive or Source of Concern?

The Los Angeles City Council recently approved a $1.3-milion contract to buy fluoride and add it to public drinking water beginning in late March. Council members made their decision after reviewing a city Department of Water and Power report that concluded that fluoride is safe and used in most major cities to improve dental health. State law mandates that public drinking water be fluoridated.

A final vote on the contract had been delayed twice after activists from the San Fernando Valley protested. KARIMA A. HAYNES asked a dentist and an anti-fluoridation activist for their views on the issue.

DR. JOSEPH P. SCIARRA

Pediatric dentist, Woodland Hills

Scientific studies have shown quite thoroughly that when fluoride is incorporated into the enamel structure of growing teeth, it makes them substantially less susceptible to decay. Some of the older studies go back to the 1950s, and those adults now show 65% to 80% fewer dental problems than in the average population. There is a generalized reduction in the number of cavities in the patient populations using fluoride. As for the argument that fluoride is a toxic substance, people can die from an overdose of aspirin. It goes back to the adage that everything should be done in moderation. If added in appropriate amounts to our drinking water, fluoride will cause no health problems. The fluoride in toothpaste is a minuscule amount. If parents are watching how much their kids are using, ingesting too much won’t be an issue.

There is nothing magical about using fluoride. It is not going to give us a bunch of cavity-free mouths. It has to be used in conjunction with other oral hygiene practices. One has to have appropriate fluoride intake, good hygiene and a low-sugar diet. When children are adhering to that regimen, a good number of them will have no cavities. Studies show that poorer populations in major cities are the ones who benefit the most from fluoridation. Even though I practice in Woodland Hills, a small portion of my patients are on welfare. In those populations, tooth decay is very rampant; that is where the fluoridated water will have its greatest benefit.

I have to emphasize that if families are drinking mostly bottled water or have filtration systems on their kitchen sinks, they will not be getting the benefit of the fluoride.

NANCY MILLER

Social worker, Glendale

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I feel that fluoridation violates our civil rights. The people have the right to choose for themselves what foods they will eat and drink and the medications that they will take. Nobody has the right to add any kind of substance to our water for any reason. Fluoride is not an essential nutrient. It is not the government’s place to tell us what we need.

I work with poor adults and children every day. People who are underprivileged don’t have the choice to purchase bottled water. It is the children who are going to be affected the most, and not in a positive way through improved dental health, but in a negative way because they are ingesting this [toxic substance].

[In Washington, D.C.], Local 2050 of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents scientists, lawyers, engineers and other professionals, has come out against fluoridation, saying that [union members’ review of] scientific studies concludes that there is a causal link between fluoride / fluoridation and cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment and bone pathology as well as a lowered IQ in children.

Even if a person did support the idea that fluoride has some benefit, how are you going to control how much the babies and the toddlers get? It is in so many of the foods already. There is no way you can control a safe amount. The reason that this is so atrocious is that this is a poison.

Unfortunately, the only way to avoid ingesting the fluoride in drinking water is to drink bottled water without fluoride or drink distilled water. Beyond that, you can install a filtration system designed to remove fluoride. But for poor people, this is not an option; they are the ones whose bodies are going to be affected by fluoride.

This is an issue that could have been put to a referendum vote. It wasn’t a [direct] vote of the people. I recently joined Citizens For Safe Drinking Water. We are determined that we are going to beat this. If people want to buy fluoridated water they should be able to do that. But you shouldn’t be forcing it down the throats of other people who didn’t choose it.