Legislation to allow local water providers to decide whether to add fluoride to the water supply failed to make it out of an Arkansas Senate committee Wednesday.
House Bill 1355, by Rep. Jack Ladyman, R-Jonesboro, was voted down after almost 30 minutes of debate in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. It's the second time this year that the committee has rejected the measure.
Supporters said the bill was not about the science of fluoride and whether it prevents tooth decay, instead saying it was a matter of local control.
"Many of the issues raised here -- equipment costs, increased and decreased cost of fluoride additions to the water -- these are local issues, I think, and they should be considered at the local level," Ladyman said. "I believe the people drinking the water should have a say in what is put in their water."
Ladyman's bill would have changed the language in Act 197 so the entity providing water can decide to adjust the fluoride levels or whether to add fluoride at all.
The Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 197 in 2011, which requires cities and towns that provide or sell water to more than 5,000 people to install fluoridation systems in water plants, but only if private funding is available. Systems such as the one in Texarkana, where the water is pumped in from out of state, are exempted.
Opponents of the bill, including dentists and representatives from the Arkansas Department of Health, argued that the bill would reduce the amount of fluoride reaching children and harm their dental health.
"The cost of fluoridating water is approximately 50 cents per person, per year," said Dr. Drew Toole, president of the Arkansas State Dental Association. "Local control means that the local superintendent might decide he doesn't want to mess with fluoride in the water anymore."
The bill passed through the Arkansas House of Representatives in February, but it failed to make it through the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee a few days later.
Metro on 03/26/2015