Longview council agrees to re-evaluate water fluoridation, but at a slower pace

Council will hold workshop, public hearings on January 23, February 27

The City of Longview will evaluate whether to continue fluoridating its water, but at a slower pace than two city councilmen had proposed.

The council decided Tuesday night to hold a workshop on the question on Jan. 23 and to hold a public hearing on Feb. 27.

The workshop will likely feature specialists who will address the safety and effectiveness of adding fluoride to municipal drinking water to fight tooth decay. Who they will be was not decided Tuesday night.

Importantly, the council rejected, for now, a proposal to have the city staff prepare paperwork to discontinue fluoride use as early as Dec. 12.

The council’s vote was unanimous.

Given the controversial nature of the subject and the council’s past divisions, Tuesday’s discussion was remarkably collegial and cooperative. In the end, even councilmen Erik Halvorson and Keith Young went along with the timetable.

Halvorson and Young had called for a Dec. 12 public hearing on fluoridation. Their resolution would also have ordered city staff to prepare an ordinance to discontinue fluoride for consideration at that meeting.

Halvorson made an impassioned plea Tuesday night, saying the “incredible” number of emails in support he’d received for his earlier attempt to address the issue makes the topic “worthy of public discussion.”

He said fluoride should not be forced on people. He invoked public objections to COVID mandates to say that forcing health measures on people erodes public trust in government.

Halvorson said he and his wife — not the experts — are better able to make decisions for what is safe and best for their children.

Young, saying he was “passionate about this issue, argued that the city shouldn’t “medicate” its water because people don’t have a choice.

The councilmen’s fast-track approach gave unease even to Councilwoman Kalei LaFave, usually their ally.

LaFave repeatedly said the issue is important and thanked the two councilors for bringing the matter forward. However, the city has budgeting and other issues on its plate. There’s no reason to rush and its important for the council to get educated and the public involved, LaFave added.

Councilwomen Angie Wean and Ruth Kendall agreed. Kendall, a retired chemical engineer, told the council that none of them are knowledgeable enough to make a decision now.

“We need to do our homework,” Wean said.

Young and Halvorson are getting the reassessment of fluoride they sought. However, they made a significant concession when the council backed off their request for advance preparation of an ordinance to end fluoride use.

Citizen Carol Zonich, a supporter of fluoridation, told the council such a move would make it seem the council already had made a decision to eliminate the chemical.

Mayor Spencer Boudreau cautioned Zonich not to assume that all the council members had their minds made up.

Fluoride is a naturally occurring chemical that has been added to municipal drinking water systems — but not all of them — for decades. It has been used in Longview since at least the mid 1960s.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls community water fluoridation one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20tyh century. The American Dental Association (ADA) said in 2021 that “fluoridation of public water supplies is the single most effective public health measure to help prevent tooth decay.”

Most other major health organizations support fluoridation of municipal drinking water. It’s toxic in larger quantities, but not at the federally recommended level for municipal drinking water — 0.7 milligrams per liter.

(Many chemicals and drugs are toxic but beneficial in small doses. Chlorine is a staple of municipal water treatment because it kills waterborne bacteria. It’s highly caustic and corrosive and fatal in larger doses. Warfarin, a blood thinner that treats and prevents blood clots, is used to kill rodents in large doses.)

Nevertheless, persistent critics say exposure to fluoride causes bone, kidney and brain problems and delays children’s intellectual development and IQ.

Supporters of fluoridation submitted a letter signed by 43 local doctors, dentists and medical professionals and another 100 signatures from members of the public.

Several doctors and dentists appeared before the council to support fluoride use. They included Blaine Tolby, a retired pediatrician at Child and Adolescent Clinic, Longview pediatrician Erin Harnish, and dentist Hani Eid of Happy Kids Dentistry in Longview.

Tolby said he’s seen the difference fluoride makes in his own life, having dental problems because he grew up on unfluoridated water from Oregon’s Bull Run Reservoir.

“We already know it works,” Tolby said of fluoride. “Do not pass this resolution tonight.”

Eid told the council he can tell which children consume fluoridated water and which don’t by the condition of their teeth. It’s difficult to recruit dentists here, and removing fluoride would overload the system with increasing cases of tooth decay, he said.

Eid said he is convinced fluoridation is safe, telling the council he had investigated the issue thoroughly because his 22-year old son has mental disabilities.

Kendall said a tally of emails to the council from Longview voters showed 77 favored retaining fluoride and 42 want it eliminated.

Several citizens raised concerns about it Tuesday night. One man noted that, by inclusion in city water, fluoride gets used in gardens, washing and a whole range of uses unrelated to dental health.

Citizen Tracy Wood said people who don’t want fluoride in drinking water have to buy expensive filters to remove it.

Bill Osmunson, a retired dentist from Bellevue, spoke against fluoridation, which he supported for 25 years until “freedom” and '“science” changed his mind. He contends fluoridation is not effective and that most nations don’t fluoridate their water.

In a video posted on Halvorson’s Facebook page, Osmunson asserts that fluoride is toxic and would not get USDA approval for use in drinking water. He also claims its use in municipal water “borders on criminal behavior by governments.”

Dean Takko, a commissioner with the Beacon Hill Water and Sewer District, supports fluoridation. The district co-owns the water plant at the Mint Farm Industrial Park and should have a say in whether to fluoridate the water, Takko said.

He suggested that the matter be put to a vote of the people.