(C) Wisconsin Watch
This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered.
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More Wisconsin communities stop adding fluoride to drinking water [1]
['David Wahlberg', 'Wisconsin State Journal', 'John Hart', 'State Journal Archives']
Date: 2024-11
At least nine Wisconsin communities have decided this year to stop adding fluoride to their drinking water and at least six more are considering it, undermining what officials say is a cornerstone of public health that strengthens teeth and reduces cavities.
Opponents of water fluoridation point to a federal judge’s order in September saying the Environmental Protection Agency needs to strengthen its regulations of the practice. The judge cited a government report that found a link between fluoride, at levels more than double what is recommended in water, and harm to the intellectual development of children.
A scientific review last month suggested widespread use of fluoridated toothpaste has reduced the benefit of adding fluoride to water. Some municipalities say state and federal orders to stop storing chlorine and fluoride together are prompting them to drop fluoride instead of paying for separate storage.
The shift away from fluoridated water comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom President-elect Donald Trump has said could have a prominent health agency role in his administration, said this month he would advise all public water systems to remove fluoride.
Brenda Staudenmaeir, of Green Bay, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the EPA that led to the judge’s order, has encouraged Wisconsin communities to drop fluoridation.
“Fluoride is the new lead ... It’s an unreasonable risk to the developing brain,” said Staudenmaeir, whose two sons are also plaintiffs in the case. Formerly of Madison, Staudenmaeir urged the Madison Water Utility to end fluoridation in 2021, but the utility continued it.
Dr. Russ Dunkel, chief dental officer for the state Department of Health Services, said ending water fluoridation threatens the oral health of children and adults, especially for people without regular access to fluoride in toothpaste or other products.
“For some of the individuals in the state, community water fluoridation may be their only preventive (dental) care,” Dunkel said. “For so many of these patients, if they get decay, are they going to have access to the care that they need?”
“Fluoridation offers an easy, inexpensive preventive strategy that everyone benefits from simply by turning on their water faucet,” the Wisconsin Dental Association says.
Cities drop fluoride
The cites of Amery, Lodi, Schofield and Tomahawk, the villages of Hartland and Marshall and the Adams County town of Rome stopped adding fluoride to their water systems this year, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. Mauston and Mukwonago approved ending fluoridation but are using up their remaining supply, local officials said.
Biron, Black Earth, Ladysmith, Monroe, Peshtigo and Wausau are discussing whether to stop fluoridation.
During the Monroe City Council’s debate over the move in October, much of the discussion pitted scientific arguments against personal choice.
“If we don’t give people a choice, then this is not a free society,” said Council President Andrew Kranig, who voted to end fluoridation.
“I believe in the science,” said Ald. Heidi Treuthardt, who voted to keep adding fluoride. “We have to do what we can to help the children of this community.”
The council voted 5 to 4 to end fluoridation, an initial step before a committee reviews the change Monday and decides whether to return the matter to the council for another public hearing and final vote Dec. 2.
In Amery, northwest of Eau Claire, the city council voted unanimously in March to stop adding fluoride to its water, saying the cost isn’t worth it.
“The fluoride that we’re putting in the water is going down the drain, you know, or in the yard or wherever,” said Ald. Mike Manor.
The Lodi City Council voted unanimously in July to stop adding fluoride, saying the EPA ordered the city to store chlorine and fluoride separately in its three well houses. The estimated cost of necessary upgrades would have been $521,800 to $637,700, city officials said.
In Marshall and Mauston, where local government bodies voted unanimously to end water fluoridation in July and October, respectively, officials cited fluoride’s corrosive effect on equipment and DNR requirements to store chlorine and fluoride separately.
Justin Grooms, acting mayor of Adams, argued a year ago that the city should stop spending $10,000 a year on fluoridation and “give our customers a choice of what goes in their body.” But he said dentists convinced him and other city council members that the public benefit is worth it, by citing the CDC’s conclusion that every $1 spent on water fluoridation saves $20 in dental care costs.
“That’s a pretty compelling argument to continue doing it,” Grooms told the Wisconsin State Journal.
Shifting landscape
After Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first city to fluoridate its drinking water in 1945, federal officials endorsed the practice five years later to prevent tooth decay. Crest introduced fluoride toothpaste in 1956, and within a decade fluoride toothpaste became widely available.
The recommended amount of fluoride in water was 1.2 milligrams per liter until 2015, when federal officials reduced the guidance to 0.7 mg per liter. An EPA limit of 4 mg per liter is meant to prevent skeletal fluorosis, a disorder that causes weak bones, stiffness and pain.
In 2022, 72.3% of U.S. residents on public water systems received fluoridated water, including 84.6% in Wisconsin, according to the CDC.
Of the 1,030 public water systems in Wisconsin — from small systems at apartment complexes to large systems run by cities — 306 are fluoridated, according to the Wisconsin DNR. Some 62 of those systems reach the recommended level through natural concentrations of the mineral.
In recent years, the DNR has increased its attention to the need to store chlorine and fluoride separately because leaks that mix the chemicals can be dangerous, said Steven Elmore, the agency’s drinking water and groundwater program director.
The DNR sometimes issues deadlines to water utilities to begin separate storage, and funding is available to help them comply, Elmore said. The agency “supports fluoridation at community water systems,” he said.
The federal National Toxicology Program reviewed numerous studies, most of them conducted outside of the U.S., in responding to concerns that pregnant women and children may be getting too much fluoride collectively from water, toothpaste and other products, such as mouthwashes and beverages.
The agency’s report in August said drinking water with more than 1.5 mg per liter of fluoride, more than twice the current recommendation, is associated with lower IQs in children.
In September, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco cited the toxicology report in concluding that water fluoridation even at 0.7 mg per liter poses “an unreasonable risk of injury to health.” He ordered further regulation from the EPA, which has not responded.
A report in October known as a Cochrane Review, analyzing 157 studies involving fluoridation and tooth decay in children, found that before fluoride toothpaste became commonplace in the mid-1970s, water fluoridation reduced decay by an average of 2.1 teeth per child. After 1975, however, the practice yielded a lower benefit of 0.24 fewer decayed teeth per child, or one quarter of a tooth, the report said.
“We now know that along with providing little dental benefit, drinking fluoride poses major risks to our health,” said Food and Water Watch, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., that was lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the EPA.
Dunkel, the Wisconsin dental officer, said there’s no evidence that water fluoridation at 0.7 mg per liter is causing harm. Bacteria from sugar remove minerals from the surface of teeth, and fluoride helps to remineralize them and prevent cavities, according to DHS. Before and after teeth form under the gums in children, the mineral makes teeth strong, the agency says.
People need fluoride from toothpaste and in water “to get the overall effect you want,” Dunkel said.
“We have to look at it from a population scale,” he said. “We’re trying to protect the public.”
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[1] Url:
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