Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 9:11 a.m.
The use of fluoride in our drinking water is long overdue. Still, critics of fluoride are correct to be upset with the flawed thinking behind the possible implementation of flouride in Clark County, which the Nevada Legislature pushed along last year. Although a new state law mandates that a vote of the people must be held regarding fluoride's use, the same legislation requires that fluoride must be introduced into drinking water by March -- more than half a year before the vote even takes place in November.
Opponents criticized the Las Vegas Valley Water District's board for adopting plans Tuesday to buy fluoride but, as the board noted, they are required to do so by law. The most appropriate place for fluoride's critics to lodge their complaints is with the Legislature, which allowed for this bizarre sequence in the first place. Legislators instead have created a recipe for confusion -- if not chaos.
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