House panel rejects bill on fluoride

Plan put choice to add it in water systems’ hands

— With votes cast along party lines, a House committee rejected a bill that would let 35 water systems decide whether to fluoridate their water.

In 2011, the Legislature passed Act 197, which required cities and towns that serve or sell water to more than 5,000 people to install fluoridation systems in their water plants, but only if private funding is available.

The law was written with the understanding that the Delta Dental Foundation of Arkansas would offer grants as a funding source for the setup. According to the American Dental Association website, the average cost to fluoridate water ranges from 50 cents a year per person in large communities to about $3 a year per person in small communities.

House Bill 1312 by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, failed to get enough votes to get out of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. It received nine yes votes. It needed 11.

Americans have been arguing about the wisdom of fluoridated water for more than six decades.

In the 1950s and 1960s,critics argued that fluoride was poisonous and contained drug-like qualities; they said that a “Communist plot” was behind efforts to change America’s water supplies. Supporters said it promotes good oral hygiene.

Today, proponents say fluoride strengthens teethand prevents tooth decay. Opponents of the requirement argue that the state shouldn’t mandate a chemical additive that doesn’t servea lifesaving function, such as chlorine.

Westerman, and other supporters of the bill, argued that HB1312 wasn’t about the merits of fluoride, but about local control. He said local water boards are closer to the people who use the water and can determine if their community favors fluoride.

“It’s just a philosophical view of whether you want to have something mandated or have local control over it,” Westerman said.

Westerman said he doesn’t plan to take the bill back before the committee unless acommittee member changes his mind on the bill.

Arkansas Surgeon General Joe Thompson said after the vote that the state tried for decades to encourage localities to voluntarily fluoridate and wasn’t satisfied by the result.

“We just were not getting there through local control. We had three of the largest cities in the United States that didn’t fluoridate their water plus a lot more smaller communities that candidly got misinformation about perceived harmful effects of fluoride, without theopposite information about the beneficial effects,” he said.

When lawmakers required fluoridation in 2011, Department of Health officials said 64.5 percent of the Arkansas population had access to fluoridated water. Requiring all systems that serve or sell water to more than 5,000 people would bring that number to 80 percent.

Arkansas, Pages 11 on 02/27/2013

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