USA - Dentist renews his call for town officials to treat water supply as way to prevent tooth decay

Bethlehem, which buys a portion of its water from Albany, has repeatedly debated fluoridation. The idea failed in the 1960s.Reintroduced with Hart's help in the 1980s, the proposal was discussed then at a public hearing, but it failed to reach a vote. Hart spoke a few years ago to the Town Board led by Supervisor Sheila Fuller in another failed effort to spark a change.

Now there are fresh faces on the Town Board, and a relatively new supervisor in Theresa Egan. So Hart, jokingly referring to himself as the "geezer" who keeps returning to talk fluoride, followed up his private appeals with a public pitch to the board last month.He received a warm reception. But Egan isn't committing to anything. Not now, or any time soon."We need more information," Egan said when asked her personal opinion about the issue. "I'm not a dentist. I'm not content with the information we just received in 45 minutes at a Town Board meeting. There's a lot of unknowns."National groups opposed to fluoride have blitzed Egan with e-mails since the issue emerged again. Fluoride opponents cite everything from safety concerns to dislike of "forced medication" by the government.