USA - Wellington to decide on controversial fluoride in water issue Tuesday

A decision on whether to return fluoride to Wellington water will likely be made Tuesday night in what is expected to be a large turnout at the Village Council meeting.

The council will listen to both sides of the controversial issue before taking a vote. To read the latest headlines from Wellington, go to palmbeachpost.com/wellington

Wellington had been using fluoride since 2000 but in January 2014 the council voted 3-2 to eliminate it in Wellington’s public drinking water. Since then controversy has sparked in Wellington. The United States Public Health Service has determined that water fluoridation is the most cost-effective practical and safe means for reducing occurrence of tooth decay in a community.

Mayor Anne Gerwig said members of the community go to the internet that carries false information to form opinions. “The problem is people are using data that is not proved scientifically or studies that use enormous amounts of fluoride,” she said. “If someone could show me scientifically that this isn’t right then I wouldn’t vote for it.”

Reports, however, from the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoride, Inc. say the US National Toxicology Program plans to review studies linking to adverse brain effects that could signal an end to the fluoridation program. Then Council member Matt Willhite still stands with his decision back in 2014. “I still object to it,” he said. “I take my sons to the dentist and they ask if I want my kids to receive the fluoride treatment and I read the bottle and it says do not inject this chemical, so my question is why would I long-term inject something that says this?”

Palm Beach County is split. Some municipalities like West Palm Beach and Delray Beach have it in the water. Others like Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens do not. The county water supply, which serves more than 400,000 people also includes added fluoride. Naturally, fluoride occurs in the county’s water supply at 0.2 milligrams per liter. In the past, the county’s fluoridation system increased that amount to 0.7 milligrams per liter.

The Fluoride Action Network says that adding fluoride in water can cause problems with teeth as well as unknown long term effects on bones and kidneys. Carol Kopf, Media Director of Fluoride Action Network said their information is all science based. “There are hundreds of well known peer reviewed articles that fluoride gets in the brain. Fluoride is a drug regulated by the FDA but the FDA never approved fluoride for ingestion,” she said.