Charter Review Reopens Water Fluoridation Debate

Decades-old Dental Debate Over Water Fluoridation Has Resurfaced in Cincinnati

A task force revising the Cincinnati city charter uncovered a forgotten provision that may give Cincinnatians a unique voting right to remove the chemical from their water supply.

When the group charged with rooting out obsolete language proposed cutting that provision, though, the efforts proved controversial - partly over murky legal issues, but also over questions about whether fluoridation itself may cause health problems.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes fluoridation as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century due to its ability to prevent tooth decay. The American Dental Association says fluoridation is not only safe and effective, but saves people money: An individual's lifetime supply of fluoridated water costs less than one dental filling. About three-quarters of Americans rely on fluoridated water.

Despite that, questions about fluoridation have persisted.

In July, the task force rewriting thecity charterdiscussed jettisoning Chapter XI, which states that any ordinance to fluoridate Cincinnati water must first be approved by a majority vote. It also requires that any fluoridation has to be halted until approved by a majority vote. The question: When was Chapter XI added to the charter, and did Cincinnati get that vote? A history of fluoridation assembled by Greater Cincinnati Water Works shows there was never a vote in favor of fluoridation.

"What I thought was something to declare obsolete turns out to be a relatively complicated legal question, and with potentially complicated social questions," said chair of the Charter Review Task Force Mike Morgan, a lawyer, real estate agent and president of Queen City History & Education, Ltd. "We might, as a city, have in this article the ability to take fluoride out of our municipal water supply."

An effort to remove that provision split the committee, with a majority wanting the fluoride provision removed and a minority suggesting there were still health questions about fluoride.

Fluoride fights divided the city in 1950s and '60s

Although most Americans drink water treated with fluoride, it has long been a contentious topic. In the 1950s, fluoridation was feared as a Communist plot. Today, some people worry that its effect on the body has not been sufficiently examined.

Greater Cincinnati Water Works assistant superintendent Jeff Swertfeger said his agency still gets two or three complaints a year from residents about fluoridation. Fluoridation is required by state law, and the science is clear, he said: Fluoridation is safe and effective.

Cincinnatians were first given the chance to decide in November 1953; fluoridation was defeated by a vote of 76,122 to 56,246. The city again rejected the additive in a 1960 vote.

The issue didn't come up again until a 1969 Ohio law mandated the chemical but allowed cities to opt out by referendum the next year. In 1970, 30 cities exempted themselves from fluoridation - a list that did not include Cincinnati. Today, 22 of the cities still don't fluoridate their water, including Lockland.

"I think people like water to be as natural as possible," said Dean Walden, the public works director for the Village of Lockland. "It was brought up as a vote here, and it was a resounding 'no.' These days you've got fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwashes and several other things right now, so there hasn't been enough interest in getting it up for another vote."

Source: Cinncinati

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