USA - Health findings renew push for fluoride in water

Health findings renew push for fluoride in water
By BLEYS W. ROSETHE PRESS DEMOCRATWednesday, May 14, 2008 Tooth decay and oral diseases are so pervasive in Sonoma County children that supervisors want a renewed attempt to put fluoride in drinking water.
"It is inconceivable to me that we have a way of treating that problem and we are not," said board chairman Mike Kerns. "I don't even want to listen to arguments against fluoride anymore."
All five supervisors asked Tuesday for county health department officials to detail what it will take for the Sonoma County Water Agency to inject fluoride into the drinking water of all 600,000 residents that rely on the county's water system.
The review was ordered after a county assessment showed that tooth decay, obesity, teen alcohol use and prenatal substance abuse by mothers are major health issues facing children.
In 1995, the Legislature enacted a law after a 20-year battle that mandated fluoride as a tooth decay prevention measure but failed to provide funding to cover the costs. At that time, Water Agency officials said they would await decisions by water customers, including Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma and Windsor.
Jake Mackenzie, a Rohnert Park councilman who heads the county's advisory committee of municipal water users, said fluoridation "has not been an issue in front of us in recent times." However, in Rohnert Park, there have been calls for fluoridation as a means for improving dental health.
"It is just that from our perspective as a water retailer, we question where the money is going to come from to make it happen," Mackenzie said.
The annual health assessment by St. Joseph Health System, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente detailed growing problems with overweight children as well as alcohol and drug use by teens. But poor dental care captured most of the attention.
"Fluoride is the simple, most effective measure to reduce tooth decay by 30percent," said Jo Sandersfeld, a vice president of St. Joseph, which operates a dental clinic in Roseland.
Sandersfeld said surveys show that 39percent of schoolchildren have untreated tooth decay, that the figure rises to 60percent for low-income children and that 13percent of children in the lowest grade levels never have been to a dentist.
Barbara Graves, the county's director of public health prevention and planning, said the report was designed to stimulate discussion among health care professionals, educators and nonprofit agencies about addressing children's health problems.
After the supervisors meeting, Water Agency officials said they would work with health officials to come up with a fluoridation plan. They cautioned it would be expensive and it would require agreement from the cities that get water from the agency.
"We will follow up, but it is costly and right now there is no money from the state, which has to be considered," Water Agency spokesman Brad Sherwood said. "We also have to consider what the water contractors want."
Currently, only the 15,000 residents of Healdsburg and those on a Fitch Mountain water system get fluoride in their water. In the 1970s, residents in those areas voted for the addition of the chemical to their water system.
For decades, Californians have fallen behind the rest of the nation in use of fluoridated water, in part because of cost and because some critics contend it causes health problems. However, most dentists and public health experts say fluoride has been proven to reduce the incidence of tooth decay as well as other oral problems.
About 67percent of Americans receive fluoride in their public water supply, but in California it is less than 20percent, according to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
Supervisors conceded there are legal, political and technical issues to resolve. A major problem is figuring out where fluoride would be injected into the water, especially if any of the nine cities contracting with the Water Agency don't want it.
"It is not as easy as you make it sound," said Supervisor Paul Kelley, the panel's expert on water issues. "You will get push back on it."
Water Agency engineers said the most efficient place to introduce fluoride would be at the Wohler Bridge pumping station. But fluoride could be injected at the "turnouts" where the main agency pipes connect with city lines, although that would be more expensive, Sherwood said.
Mike Ban, Petaluma's director of water resources, said the city last studied fluoridation costs several years ago and concluded it was more expensive than officials thought water users would be willing to pay.
"It is cost prohibitive because we'd have to put special fluoride-injection equipment at each turnout from the Water Agency lines and we have six turnouts," Ban said. "Every few years, we hear the fluoride issue come up and we hear it from both sides."