Fluoridation

Knowledgeable people here and elsewhere agree —

Fluoridation makes for healthy smiles all around … and 2B takes it away for no good reason!


Community water fluoridation is one of the most successful public-health programs ever. All of the scientific evidence is on one side: fluoridation helps teeth and hurts no one! There is no problem with Boulder’s water that needs solving (certainly not with toxins). Yet every so often we are forced to justify it all over again. Here are some arguments that knowledgeable people here in Boulder and elsewhere have made to counter the scaremongering (and in some instances, lies) used to promote Ballot Issue 2B:

What’s at stake with Ballot Issue #2B?
A lot. In fact, nothing less than the health and welfare of the entire Boulder community, points out the Colorado Dental Association. If, unfortunately, Ballot Issue 2B should pass, the great benefits of fluoridation will be forever denied to Boulder residents.  more

Moreover, 2B strikes hardest at low-income children. These are the children that need what Boulder’s water currently gives them. Fluoride in our water narrows the gap between those who can afford dental care and those who cannot. A vote for 2B is a vote against children.  more

Also at stake is the integrity of the initiative process. Issue 2B is a transparent ploy, according to the Boulder Daily Camera, pretending to rid city water of arsenic and lead, and actually doing nothing of the sort. 2B is unscientific claptrap designed to frighten Boulder voters. more
But what about the advertising that claims 2B is not about fluoride, but about clean water?
The chair of Boulder’s Water Resources Advisory Board says the only impact that passage of Initiative 2B would have on Boulder’s water would be to stop fluoridation. Even fluoride with no impurities would not be allowed by the initiative due to the fact that the initiative would require the FDA to approve its use. As the FDA is not in charge of drinking water standards, if 2B passes, it would take an act of Congress or the repeal of Initiative 2B to resume fluoridation of our drinking water.  more
Doesn’t 2B at least assure that there is no contamination of our drinking water?
Water coming into the system has undetectable levels of arsenic and lead, as does water going out of the system after fluoridation. The cloak of environmental activism is being deceptively. That saddens Mike Boggs who correctly discerns that passing 2B would be risking our community’s health for no good reason.  more
What’s the big deal with fluoridation?
It’s a really important public-health measure. Resident Bernard Bloom points out that Boulder has been fluoridating its water, and it has been done safely since 1969. The overwhelming professional support for this anti-cavity measure is reinforced by extensive research and definitive scientific evidence for its safety and effectiveness.  more

Before coming to Boulder, Andrew Fiscus worked in Alaska as a dentist for Native Americans there. He could tell the which villages were fluoridated or not just by looking at the teeth of a few children. Fluoridation’s benefits are that dramatic!  more
What proof is there that stopping fluoridation actually would result in more tooth decay?
Jim Hyatt of Dental Aid, which serves the underserved in Boulder County, notes that a scientific study of one community that repealed fluoridation saw a 38% rise in tooth decay in just two years; among second-graders it was 183%. We don’t want any of Boulder’s children suffering increased decay, pain, and absences from school due to dental health problems.more
Surely we can replace fluoridation of drinking water with all sorts of other ways just as good in preventing tooth decay?
As the dental hygienists at North Boulder Dental Group know from long experience, there is no effective alternative to achieve the scientifically established health effects of water fluoridation. Ballot Issue 2B repeals fluoridation and permanently condemns everyone here to needless pain, suffering and ill health.  more
Aren’t there cancer-causing elements being added to our water along with the fluoridation?
2B’s proponents have been twisting the numbers to wrongly make you think so. Resident Alan Roberts reminds us that it takes certain levels to really cause cancer. Scientific studies show cancer-causing levels of lead and arsenic are way, way greater than what’s in our water, and the cancer risks are miniscule here.  more
At least we can say 2B a reasonable, good-faith effort to keep Boulder’s water clean and healthy?
Heavens no! The people who petitioned to put 2B on the ballot are fooling you about taking out the lead and arsenic in our city’s drinking water, as resident Annette Osterlund points out. They’re really just out to stop fluoridation, a vital tool in the fight against tooth decay and the promotion of good general health.  more

Boulder Camera columnist Clay Evans also questions the good-faith behind 2B and its backers. His conclusion: Ballot Issue 2B is a Trojan horse. It doesn’t really address lead and arsenic pollution, since all it really does is ban the additive used to fluoridate (which contributes 100-5000 times less than the acceptably safe levels for those elements). Backers say it’s “fluoride-neutral,” when in fact it is all about getting rid of fluoridation in Boulder and setting up impossible conditions for its return (including a 40x cost increase).  more

At least the effects of losing fluoridation would be equally experienced by everyone here, no?
It is true that no public-health measure reaches more people with good results than water fluoridation. But children, the poor and the elderly are at greater risk of tooth decay than middle-class adults. Annette Osterlund points out that alternatives to fluoridation are often not obtainable by those at greatest risk. The loss of community water fluoridation in Boulder would be taking large risks with the dental health of the least fortunate in our city.  more

Community water fluoridation and topical fluorides contribute greatly to oral health in the areas served by Dental Aid, which has clinics for the underserved in Boulder County. In the interest of good public health, community water fluoridation needs to be recognized as a major component in good oral health.  more (goes off-site)

Just how big a deal is preventing small amounts of tooth decay?
As oral health care preventive specialists, members of the Colorado Dental Hygienists’ Association every day see the benefits of fluoride on teeth of people with optimal levels of fluoride in their water supply. They also see the damage which occurs with teeth where this protection is not widely available through water fluoridation. Needless pain and suffering, especially by children, is heart-breaking. more

Why do we have to choose between fluoridation and having water safe from lead and arsenic?
That’s not the choice here! Even with fluoridation, Boulder has only trace amounts of lead and arsenic in the water, much less than what the EPA allows. As the co-editor of The Guide to Health and Healing stresses, Boulder residents have nothing to fear from their water being fluoridated.  more
Why not force the fluoridation additive to be lead and arsenic free anyway, just to be cautious?
As the example of Erie shows, you don’t effect the levels of lead in the treated water with a fluoridation additive. Dentist David Jackson discovered that some Erie residents have twice the levels of lead in their unfluoridated water than other residents who have get fluoridated water. (Don’ fret for our neighbors, however; though Erie’s lead levels are significantly higher than Boulder’s water, they are still way below the limits set for safe consumption.)  more
Is the safety of water fluoridation itself in doubt?
No! No scientific study has ever implicated water fluoridation as a health risk. Boulder fluoridates to bring up its naturally occurring levels of fluoride to an optimal 1 part per million. Chris Friedman calculates that is about one drop in every 16 gallons of water, and only one-fourth of the upper limit set by the EPA for safety.  more
Aren’t the benefits of fluoridation in dispute?
Not really. David Jackson, past president of the Boulder/Broomfield County Dental Society, notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls water fluoridation one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. It is deemed safe and effective for fighting tooth decay by reputable organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, as well as the American Dental Association.  more
Why is fluoridation considered such a vital public-health measure?
There are so many reasons! The most recent US Surgeon General, Richard Carmona, pointed out that a significant advantage of water fluoridation is that all residents of a community can enjoy its protective benefit — at home, work, school, or play — simply by drinking fluoridated water or beverages and foods prepared with it. A person’s income level or ability to receive routine dental care is not a barrier to receiving fluoridation’s health benefits.  more (goes off-site)
Isn’t fluoridation the product of a big conspiracy to poison us for profits?
Anti-fluoridationists today believe that a fantastically large, multi-generational, secret conspiracy exists merely to sell the chemical HFS. This conspiracy theory is the latest in a line of conspiracy theories: First it was an international Jewish banking conspiracy to make everyone docile. Next it was Nazi scheme to pacify conquered populations. Then it became a cold-war commie plot to subjugate the US. For awhile now, it is supposed to be a profit-making scheme by Big Aluminum, Big Fertilizer, or Big Nuclear Power. With tongue firmly in cheek, resident Alan Brooks has discovered a terrorist scheme connecting 9/11, cookie dough, and fluoridation. Check it out!  more
Can’t we rely on each other to make a good public-health decision here?
Former mayor Bob Greenlee has his doubts. “Unfortunately, there’s something going on here that makes it nearly impossible to believe that all Boulder citizens are totally rational thinkers. It must be in the water.”  more
Is there anyone who opposed fluoridation in the past but changed their position?
Many. Consider what the late Benjamin Spock (the famous baby doctor) had to say back in 1980: “The fact is that I started out as somewhat skeptical and cautious about fluoridation in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. But then I became a firm believer as proof was assembled by scientists in the 1950’s and afterwards that fluoridation of a water supply will reduce the production of tooth cavities (our most prevalent disease) by 60%, and, just as important, that no disease or defect is caused by this procedure.”  more (goes off-site)
What does it take to unify the entire Colorado congressional delegation?
A really bad idea — like removing fluoride from our water. Every single one of our Senators and Representatives — Republican and Democrat; left, right, and center — think that community water fluoridation benefits everyone!  more

There are just simply too many good reasons to keep fluoridation in Boulder!



Don’t Be Deceived!!
Vote no on Issue #2B!


This message is from the Vote No on 2B Committee,
supported by the many very concerned health professionals serving the people of Boulder.