Debate renewed on fluoride in water

Art Nadler

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 10:19 a.m.

Battle lines were drawn Thursday night over a controversial bill calling for the addition of fluoride to Nevada's drinking water supply, and neither side was willing to give an inch.

The proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 284, is a remake of a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, at the 1997 Legislature. It died in committee due to strong opposition from concerned citizens who say fluoride is a poison that will endanger the public's health.

In a joint hearing of the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services and Senate Committee on Human Resources in Carson City, Giunchigliani, a teacher, told about witnessing children in her classroom suffering from tooth decay. She said their severe oral health conditions could have been prevented if fluoride would have been added to the state's drinking water.

Currently, only 2.1 percent of the Nevada's population is using fluoridated water. The Centers for Disease Control reports that the national average is 62.1 percent.

Fluoridation is recommended by the American Dental Association and 71 other national and international professional organizations as being effective in fighting tooth decay. As a result, a national Healthy People 2000 plan is calling for 75 percent of the population to be served by community fluoride systems by the year 2000.

And that doesn't set well with opponents of AB 284.

"How much fluoride should a person be exposed to?" asked Jeff Green, director of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water. "No one will tell you exactly how much will go into the water. This is an industrial hazardous waste."

Opponents argue that fluoride can affect the brain, causes cancer and increases the chances for hip fractures.

Proponents argue that since fluoride was first added to drinking water on Jan. 25, 1945, in Grand Rapids, Mich., there have been 113 scientific studies done around the world and all of them say adding fluoride to drinking water is not harmful and decreases tooth decay.

Dr. Bernard Feldman, chairman of the Nevada State Board of Health, testified that 7 percent of all the children who enter University Medical Center's emergency room suffer from dental and oral disease. That breaks down to a cost, he said, of $123 for children under 6 years of age and $142 for children ages 6-18.

"I prescribe fluoride to my patients, my grand children and my wife for osteoporosis," Feldman said. "There have been no scientific studies that say fluoride is harmful."

But Kristine Jensen, a spokeswoman for Nevada Concerned Citizens, said 75 percent of the water used in Nevada is for watering lawns and washing cars. Only 7 percent, she said, is used for drinking or cooking. She said that adding fluoride to the drinking water would not affect children's tooth decay very much.

Green said poverty -- not having access to dental care -- is the cause of tooth decay, along with children's poor diets of drinking sodas and eating sweets.

Ted Twesme, president of the Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners, strongly disagreed. After practicing dentistry for 20 years, he said every dollar invested in providing fluoride to a child returns $80 in reduced tooth decay.

Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman, D-Reno, said the bill will be referred to the two committees' work sessions. Both committees are expected to vote on it within three weeks.