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UK Against Fluoridation

Monday, March 05, 2012

USA - Myerstown Water Authority first to stop fluoridation

Myerstown Water Authority first to stop fluoridation
By STEVE SNYDER Lebanon Daily News
The Lebanon Daily News (Pennsylvania)
March 4, 2012
Just over 67 years ago, Grand Rapids, Mich., became the first city in the world to adjust the fluoride in its water supply.
Scientists had determined that fluoride could be used to reduce tooth decay, and many communities followed Grand Rapids' lead, including the borough of Myerstown. Although he wasn't sure of the exact date, Chris Strause, operations manager for the Myerstown Water Authority, said Thursday that a local women's club paid for a pump to add hydrofluorosilicic acid, the technical name for fluoride, to the authority's water supply.
Today, more than 195 million people in the United States are served by public water that contains enough fluoride to protect teeth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Myerstown water customers are no longer among them.
Effective Jan. 31, Myerstown Water Authority stopped adding fluoride, after receiving a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection to do so.
"I think we are the first people in the state of Pennsylvania allowed to discontinue it," Strause said.
Lisa Kasianowitz, South-central Community Relations Coordinator for DEP, wrote in an email Thursday that DEP "is not aware of any other authorities or municipalities that have stopped adding fluoride in the South-central region."
Expense was not a reason for the move. Strause said the cost of fluoridation was between $3,000 and $4,000 a year, not counting any pump maintenance or electrical costs. The savings generated from the change "will not be enough to drop rates," Strauss said.
Dan Flanagan, chairman of the five-member authority board, said, "The decision was based on the ADA (American Dental Association) now recommending that fluoride should be administered topically instead of being ingested."
Lydia Hall, media relations manager for the ADA, disputed Flanagan's statement.
"No, the ADA continues to advocate the value of community water fluoridation as well as fluoride supplements and topical administration when recommended by a dentist," Hall wrote in an email.
Flanagan also cited "hazardous conditions for employees" of the system, noting that "(hydrofluorosilicic) acid is very corrosive."
Flanagan said residents who want fluoride can continue to use it, either by buying toothpaste or drinking water that contains the mineral.
All customers of the Myerstown system and local doctors were notified by mail of the proposed removal of fluoride, which the authority board approved late last year.
"One doctor wrote back with a concern," Strause said, but no others did. Only one other customer was "upset."

"More folks were happy to have it out of the water system," Strause said...........

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