Albuquerque, New Mexico Will NOT Be Adding Fluoride To Water Supply

By Derrick Broze

Albuquerque, New Mexico will continue to maintain a fluoride-free water supply after the local water authority voted to remove funding for water fluoridation for the fiscal year 2017.

On Wednesday May 18, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority voted to remove proposed funding for water fluoridation from the utility’s 2017 budget. The Water Utility Authority had originally recommended spending $250,000 to add extra fluoride into the water supply to help the county reach federally recommended levels of fluoride. Bernalillo County’s supply is at 0.3 parts per million while the federal government recommends .7 parts per million.

Only weeks ago Hart Stebbins, a Bernalillo County commissioner, introduced a measure that would have required the water authority to add fluoride to the water supply to a level of 0.7 parts per million. However, on May 18, the board opted not to vote on the measure, effectively ending the bid for water fluoridation.

“Adding supplemental fluoride to the drinking supply is one way to help insure that community oral health is improved,” said David Morris, with the water authority, said days before the board ultimately decided not to take up the resolution.

Albuquerque became the largest city not to add fluoride to the water supply in 2011 when the water authority said they would wait until federal guidelines were updated in 2015. The decision ended a 39-year practice of water fluoridation for the Bernalillo County.

Although water fluoridation will not return to the county, the Albuquerque Journal reports that the board did approve a measure which “asks the New Mexico Congressional delegation to request expedited action on the final recommendations.” Supporters of water fluoridation were dismayed by the non vote and called for the board to vote on the issue once new guidelines are issued.

“The disappointing thing is that they have the science in front of them,” said Dr. Ron Romero, an Albuquerque dentist. “It’s not totally over yet. It allows more time for the education of policy makers.”

So what does the science say about water fluoridation and what the heck IS fluoride?

The substances added to municipal water supplies known by the name fluoride are actually a combination of unpurified by-products of phosphate mining, namely hydrofluorosilicic acid, sodium fluorosilicate, and sodium fluoride. In the United States, thousands of tons of fluorosilicic acid is recovered from phosphoric acid plants and then used for water fluoridation. During this process the fluoride ion is created.

This process of taking waste from the phosphate industry and putting it into drinking water has long been criticized for its effects on human health, and that of the environment. It is well known that water fluoridation has led to dental fluorosis for millions of children. This discoloring of the teeth was called “cosmetically objectionable” by the Centers for Disease Control. Beyond the cosmetic effect, there have been a number of studies indicating health issues ranging from arthritis, brain problems, reduced thyroid or overactive  thyroid, kidney problems and bone cancers.

While proponents of water fluoridation have long pointed to an apparent drop in tooth decay in fluoridated nations as proof of its validity, those claims have been proven wrong by the World Health Organization. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has stated the fluoride in the water is directly related to better teeth quality; however, the WHO released its own study showing that tooth decay rates have dropped in all Western nations, whether fluoridated or not.

In 2015, Truth In Media reported that the Cochrane Collaboration, a global independent network of researchers, professionals, and patients, reviewed the most comprehensive, well-designed and reliable papers on fluoride, before analyzing and publishing their conclusion.

According to Newsweek:

The review identified only three studies since 1975—of sufficient quality to be included—that addressed the effectiveness of fluoridation in the population at large. These papers determined that fluoridation does not reduce cavities to a statistically significant degree, says study co-authorAnne-Marie Glenny, a health science researcher at Manchester University in the United Kingdom.

The scientists also found “insufficient evidence” that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in adults (children excluded). “From the review, we’re unable to determine whether water fluoridation has an impact on caries levels in adults,” Glenny says.

Trevor Sheldon, dean of the Hull York Medical School in the United Kingdom, conducted a review of water fluoridation in 2000. Sheldon concluded that the process is not effective. “I had assumed because of everything I’d heard that water fluoridation reduces cavities but I was completely amazed by the lack of evidence,” he told Newsweek. “My prior view was completely reversed.”

Sheldon points out that some studies have actually shown that when water fluoridation was ceased, cavities went down a small percentage among schoolchildren.  This includes a 2001 study of two British Columbia communities that was included in the Cochrane review......................