Longview City Council looking to 'punt' fluoride decision to voters

Advocates outraged, accuse council majority of trashing science and ignoring public opinion and advice of medical experts

This story has been updated to reflect the fact that Battle Ground is not pursuing abandonment of fluoride.

On a 4-3 vote, the Longview City Council Thursday inched closer to asking city voters whether they want to continue fluoridating their drinking water.

The council directed staff to open discussions in March to see if the Beacon Hill Water and Sewer District is open to holding a public advisory vote. Beacon Hill owns about 17% of the Longview Mint Farm Water Treatment plant, and the city cannot change operations there without Beacon Hill’s approval.

Depending on the outcome of the talks, the City Council will decide at its first meeting in April whether to hold the vote in November. Assistant City Manager Chris Collins estimated the vote would cost taxpayers $14,000 to $15,000.

Dean Takko, one of three Beacon Hill supervisors, told the council Thursday there is strong support for fluoridation among the supervisors and the district’s customers. There’s a “great benefit” to having fluoride in water, Takko said.

The council majority, at least for now, backed off an earlier attempt to ban fluoride immediately (after a mandatory 90-day swaiting period.) Public support for fluoridation seems to have made that politically untenable for now. However, to the dismay of fluoride backers, punting it to an advisory ballot would keep the issue on the table for another eight months.

The council vote was divided along familiar political lines, with councillors Kalei LaFave, Keith Young and Mayor Spencer Boudreau supporting Erik Halvorson’s motion call for an advisory vote. Halvorson has been trying to get the city to stop fluoridating its water for a year.

Councilwomen Ruth Kendall, Angie Wean and MaryAlice Wallis opposed it, citing the lopsided public testimony the council received in support of fluoridation both in emails and two public meetings.

Kendall, a retired chemical engineer, shared her analysis that 80% to 85% percent of the 451 emails the city received (285 of them from Longview voters) supported fluoride use. And of 98 doctors, dentists and medical professionals who weighed in, 94 backed continued use of fluoride, she said.

Had the tally had been closer, she may have agreed to an advisory vote, Kendall said. But “it isn’t close. … We should drop this conversation and keep the fluoride.”

Behind the scenes, Halvorson objected to including Kendall’s analysis in the city’s presentation about fluoride to start the meeting. She brought it up on her own during the council discussion.

“These lists are not complete and do not show the complete picture of the true support for opposition of fluoride,” Halvorson wrote to the council in an email earlier Thursday. “I appreciate your work on this Ruth, but there are some inherent flaws with the data collection method” and the analysis does not take into account one-on-one discussions how people feel about the issue.

Boudreau emailed Kendall before the meeting Thursday that ”I’ll be asking for an advisory vote to get us the broadest swath of public opinion as possible.”

Boudreau told her had not watched a videotaped debate on fluoride the council held on January 30, Kendall, who was obviously frustrated, said Friday morning. Boudreau did not attend the debate, which took place in the early stages of his domestic crisis.

Councilwoman Wean said, “I feel that the people have spoken. We have spent a lot of time and money on this. This is not a good use of resources.”

Boudreau defended the decision to seek an advisory vote, saying that on the campaign trail voters told him they want more say over decisions. “I would not feel bad” about spending $15,000 for an advisory vote on a public health issue, he said.

He said he would expect the council to honor the outcome of the vote, even if it is advisory only.

Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, has been used in the vast majority of U.S. public water systems to combat tooth decay for about three quarters of a century. Longview first began fluoridating its water in October 1951 and has used it without interruption since 1958.

High levels can be toxic, but humans need some amount of fluoride to have healthy teeth and bones.

Opposition to its use has always simmered, based on safety concerns and libertarian objections to its use without individual consumers’s consent. Opponents got a political boost last year when a federal judge ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride because high levels — more than twice the federally recommended level — could pose a risk to the intellectual development of children.

Camas is considering abandoning fluoride, as Aberdeen did earlier this year. Battle Ground had a workshop about the issue, but it’s not pursuing any plans to abandon fluoride use.

Juneau, Alaska, and Calgary, Alberta, Canada, both are returning to fluoridation after tooth decay rose when they discontinued it.

Every major medical group in the U.S. endorses fluoride as safe and effective.

Fluoride supporters Thursday night accused the council majority of punting the decision to voters because they did not get any groundswell of support against fluoride they hoped for. The council should just abandon the discussion and keep using fluoride, they said.

“The issue has been heard, but you didn’t hear what you wanted,” said Longview citizen Michael O’Neill, calling the move toward an advisory vote a “stunt.”

“This is an act of cowardice,” Democratic activist Teresa Purcell of Longview told the council, calling it an example of the city “continuing to go backward in time and ignoring science.”

She noted that the U.S. reported its first measles death this week (to an unvaccinated child), a suggestion that anti-science policy has dangerous consequences for public health.

“This is very disrespectful” of the medical professionals who testified in favor of fluoride use, said Longview pediatrician Erin Harnish.

Retired Mark Morris chemistry teacher Lauren Princehouse was one of many speakers who advocated for continued fluoridation Thursday.

Foreign studies that claimed to find that high levels of fluoride reduce childhood IQ have been ‘“discredited completely,” she said.

“There is no valid scientific data to debate this issue,” she said, calling the science of fluoride ‘well understood.” She urged the council to “dispense with this quickly and get to issues that matter. This is not one of them.”

She said fluoride levels in city water are at a “sweet spot” between high levels that would harm people and low levels that would leave people short of the amount they need.

Fluoride supporters reiterated concerns that removing it would disproportionately harm poor children, who have reduced access to dental care, and would discourage recruitment of dentists. Some suggested it would make the community appear backward and discourage new employers from locating here.

In advocating for an advisory vote, Halvorson noted the year-long debate over fluoride was “a true exercise in civic engagement.” But the more he studies fluoride, he said, “the more questions I have” about it, he said.

Halvorson and Councilman Young have a philosophical objection to fluoridating water, and Young reiterated it Thursday night.

“Medicating the public is not the government’s job,” he said, drawing a distinction between use of fluoride, which is optional, and chlorine, which is a mandatory disinfectant against bacterial diseases.

Longview’s water has natural concentrations of fluoride ranging from 0.21 to 0.31 milligrams per milliliter, according to the city. The city adds small amounts to bring it up to the federally recommended public health standard of 0.7 mg/l). That concentration, according to Collins, is equivalent to one word out of all seven Harry Potter novels.

The city spends about $14,000 annually to add fluoride to its water — about the cost of an advisory vote.

The council’s action here is an outrageous rejection of science and the medical professionals who treat this community. Rarely is the public debate on an issue so one-sided. The council, as Longview resident Arleen Hubble noted, is showing the same disregard for public opinion that led to it terminate former City Manager Kris Swanson last March.

“You’re not listening to a damn thing that people have said,” she told the council.

Halvorson’s objection to Kendall’s analysis of public comment is particularly disingenuous. Had the tally been reversed — in opposition to fluoride — he’d ballyhoo it. He just doesn’t like what it shows.

This is a non issue. The public has not made this a priority. It was not a campaign issue when three members of the council majority were elected in 2023.

As Longview dentist Jeff Langdon said to Halvorson: “I am sad this was not brought up in your campaign, Erik.”