USA - Some communities in Tennessee rejecting fluoride in drinking water
Paris TN: Some communities in Tennessee rejecting fluoride in drinking water
By MELANIE HOWARD
P-I Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:44 AM CDT
With numerous sources of fluoride now available, members of some Tennessee communities have begun to question whether the continued addition of this chemical to sources of public drinking water is still necessary.
City aldermen in Spring Hill voted last week to discontinue the addition of fluoride to their city’s water. Spring Hill joins the cities of Waynesboro and Lewisburg as the third Tennessee city to make this decision.
Addition of fluoride to drinking water is not a process mandated by Tennessee state law, John Etheridge, general manager for the Paris Board of Public Utilities, explained. It is a decision made by each individual utility company.....
Etheridge as well as Paris City Manager Carl Holder both said they had not been approached by anyone requesting that fluoride be removed from the drinking water in the city of Paris.
The practice of water fluoridation began in the United States in 1945 in an attempt to help lower the rate of cavities and tooth decay in children and adults. By 1950 it was endorsed by the Public Health Service because of the impact it had on lowering the incidence of tooth decay among those who drank the fluoridated water.
Terry Wimberley, who serves the BPU as director of the water/wastewater operations, said that in 1951, Milan was the first Tennessee city to begin adding fluoride to the water. The Paris utility company followed suit in 1952.
Nearly 60 years later, some are wondering why fluoride is still being added to the water since it is available in so many different sources.....
By MELANIE HOWARD
P-I Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:44 AM CDT
With numerous sources of fluoride now available, members of some Tennessee communities have begun to question whether the continued addition of this chemical to sources of public drinking water is still necessary.
City aldermen in Spring Hill voted last week to discontinue the addition of fluoride to their city’s water. Spring Hill joins the cities of Waynesboro and Lewisburg as the third Tennessee city to make this decision.
Addition of fluoride to drinking water is not a process mandated by Tennessee state law, John Etheridge, general manager for the Paris Board of Public Utilities, explained. It is a decision made by each individual utility company.....
Etheridge as well as Paris City Manager Carl Holder both said they had not been approached by anyone requesting that fluoride be removed from the drinking water in the city of Paris.
The practice of water fluoridation began in the United States in 1945 in an attempt to help lower the rate of cavities and tooth decay in children and adults. By 1950 it was endorsed by the Public Health Service because of the impact it had on lowering the incidence of tooth decay among those who drank the fluoridated water.
Terry Wimberley, who serves the BPU as director of the water/wastewater operations, said that in 1951, Milan was the first Tennessee city to begin adding fluoride to the water. The Paris utility company followed suit in 1952.
Nearly 60 years later, some are wondering why fluoride is still being added to the water since it is available in so many different sources.....
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