Fluoridation may go on ballot

Utah seems on the verge of another controversy over fluoridation of public drinking water - a practice that would either add dangerous chemicals to water or improve the dental health of children, depending on your outlook.

Thursday, the Salt Lake City-County Board of Health voted to ask the County Commission to place an initiative about fluoridation on the November ballot. The voice vote was without dissent.Commissioners are generally disposed to let residents vote on the matter.

Commissioner Mary Callaghan, who also sits on the Board of Health, generally supports putting citizen initiatives on the ballot. She said, "In my raw straw poll, I see it split about 50-50, which is all the more reason to put it to a vote."

A group of interested residents, primarily dentists and other health professionals, approached both the County Commission and Board of Health last summer with the fluoridation idea. The commission could have put the matter on the ballot without the board's recommendation, though the recommendation gives it added impetus to do so.

Commission Chairman Brent Overson said he would probably support a vote if city officials can give some input beforehand. Commissioner Randy Horiuchi supports fluoridation. (His wife is a professor of dental hygiene at Weber State University.)

The action, the first in decades, was made possible by the 1998 Legislature passing HB405, an act allowing citizens to vote on whether fluoride should be added to public water supplies. The measure replaced a 1976 law that made it difficult for the issue to reach the ballot.

"A very small percentage of Utah water systems are fluoridated," said Lewis Garrett, director of family health services for the City-County Health Department. "In the nation, a majority of water systems are fluoridated."

The reason stems from scare tactics of fluoridation opponents, he believes.

Decades ago, some opponents made ridiculous claims against fluoridation, he said. One argument: Fluoridation was intended to make the population somnolent so evil bureaucrats could take over. Others were "this is a communist plot, that it numbs the mind, lowers the IQ," Garrett said.

Today, he believes, "most people are pretty rational about fluoride, and most people, I think, support it."

"I tell people that before it was a communist plot, but today there are no more communists, so . . . ," Horiuchi joked.