Last night the Burlington Public Works Commission heard more information about water fluoridation from the fluoride subcommittee.   The subcommittee was formed a year ago to review and weigh the evidence of fluoride's benefits and potential to cause harm.   At last night's meeting they presented their findings to the full commission.

The fluoride subcommittee, made up of Margret Gundersen, Jared Wood, and Assistant Director of Water/Wastewater Treatment Laurie Adams was unanimous in their position that the practice of water fluoridation should be "suspended" until appropriate safety studies could be conducted at the levels that we currently fluoridate at (1 p.p.m).    Commissioners noted that the American Dental Association and Centers for Disease Control now recommend that infants should not recieve fluoridated water.   Commissioner Gundersen pointed out that "fluoride is like mercury, lead, or arenic.  It stays in the body and accumulates over a period of time."

Commissioners acknowledged the potential harm from fluoride but focused on the issue of choice.  Committee member Laurie Adams said water fluoridation “takes away the choice by the public as to how they receive fluoride.”    Commissioner Wood elaborated on the thought "If it's considered to be a drug, which I think is admitted.  If the best use is topical, not total injestion, it raises some real questions which we couldn't find answers too." 

The commission voted unanimously to accept the recommendations of the subcommitee and pass them on to the City Council. 

This is not the first city body to recommend suspending the practice.  In 2009, the Burlington Board of Health, after reviewing a scientific review of fluoridation by the National Research Council,  recommended that the city halt the fluoridation program all together.    They cited new information in the NRC review which identifies certain subset of the population that are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of fluoride.   According to City Attourney Ken Shatz, the ultimate authority to decide which chemicals are added to the city's drinking water rests with the City Council.