> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Not all smiles for fluoride treatment - URL: https://www.smdp.com/not-all-smiles-for-fluoride-treatment/ - Published: 2007-01-19T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T23:52:09.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: Health, Santa Monica, #archive-import *FROM WATER FLUORIDE PAGE 3 City’s largest supplier to add fluoride too* CITYWIDE A series of reports on the dangers of digesting too much fluoride has renewed calls for the City Council to abandon a plan to add the naturally occurring mineral to the city’s water supply to ward off tooth decay. Santa Monicans for Safe Drinking Water Coalition has sent letters to the City Council requesting a hearing on fluoridation. The letters contain a directive from the American Dental Association warning parents of infants less than a year old to cut back on their use of fluoridated tap water when preparing baby formula because it can lead to dental fluorosis — a defect of the teeth that can result in staining, and even corrosion, of the enamel. The coalition has also pointed to an article in the British journal “The Lancet,”which said that excessive amounts of fluoride may damage a child’s developing brain. “The Lancet” review described fluoride, along with the rocket fuel additive perchlorate, as an “emerging neurotoxic substance” due to evidence linking fluoride to lower IQs in children and brain damage in animals. The Metropolitan Water District (MWD), from which Santa Monica receives about 90 percent of its water, and city staff are planning to add fluoride to the city’s taps beginning in July. “For the first time since this country began the fluoridation of water, we are seeing, as a matter of record, a public health warning,” said Gene Burke, a member of the coalition.“This is a brand new development, which warrants further discussion and a risk assessment by the City Council.” The council first considered the issue in 2000, but the idea was voted down in November of that year by majority. When the issue was presented again in May of 2001, hundreds of citizens publicly argued for and against such a move. Supporters pointed to the health benefits, as fluoride has been proven to strengthen tooth enamel, making teeth more resistant to decay. Fluoride has also been shown to reduce the amount of acid that the bacteria on your teeth produce. Children who have fluoride when their teeth are developing tend to have shallower grooves in their teeth so plaque can be more easily removed. The addition of fluoride to water has been researched for more than 50 years and water fluoridation has been proven to reduce decay by 40 to 60 percent, according to the British Dental Health Foundation. During discussions at City Hall, opponents claimed there are significant health risks associated with ingesting fluoride, including weakened bones, reduced thyroid activity, and possibly, bone cancer in boys. The debate was heated and emotional at times, with people toting along reams of documents to council chambers as evidence supporting the benefits, and risks, of water fluoridation. The council, by a 4-3 vote, ultimately approved adding fluoride to the city’s water. A fluoridation system was built for roughly $400,000 and is about to come online, according to Gil Borboa, water resources manager for City Hall. “We are planning to engage in an education campaign to let people know when we start,” Borboa said, following a meeting Thursday with his staff on the best ways to spread the word. “That will most likely include some sort of information package that we will send out in May when we release our annual water quality report, which goes out to every housing unit in the city.” Borboa said his staff will also most likely establish a fluoride hotline for residents to call with questions, and post information on the city’s Web site. “We just want to make it, hopefully, as easy as possible to get questions answered,” Borboa said. Santa Monica will join thousands of other cities around the country in fluoridating their water with the goal of preventing tooth decay. Fluoride prevents decay by distribution throughout the body via the blood stream and is deposited in bones and hard tissues, like teeth. EVERYBODY’S DOING IT Grand Rapids, Mich., became the first city in the nation to fluoridate its water in 1945\. Since then, the CDC reports that more than 10,000 public water systems and about 70 percent of U.S. cities with populations larger than 100,000 have fluoridated water systems. The cities of Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego are currently fluoridating their water, but not all California cities approve of fluoridation. In March of 1999, Santa Cruz voters shot down fluoridation in a local ballot measure and the city councils in Escondido and Santa Barbara rejected such a move. Last December, Juneau, Alaska, and Martin County, Florida, voted fluoride out of their drinking water. A Tennessee state legislator urged water companies to stop fluoridation, and the Vermont Department of Health sent a fluoridation warning to all Vermont dentists and pediatricians, according to the Fluoride Action Network, which is working to end fluoridation in the United States. Bob Muir, a spokesman for the MWD, said fluoride is being added after county health officials requested it. The MWD board approved of the addition in September 2003. “I believe we look at it as a prudent measure that adds an additional level of public health protection at a cost of less than a dollar a family,” Muir said. “We had some opposition at a base level, but nothing too organized. Basically, we are doing this at the urging of the medical and dental health professionals.” Muir said that the cost of adding fluoride is, for the most part, being paid for by more than $5 million in grants from the California Fluoridation Workgroup, which is comprised of members from the California Dental Association, a trade organization representing nearly 24,000 dentists in the state. Councilman Ken Genser, who voted against fluoridation and is still opposed to the plan, said there are no signs that the issue will be discussed by the council anytime soon. Councilman Kevin McKeown and former Mayor Mike Feinstein also voted against fluoridation. “I regularly get e-mails from members of anti-fluoridation activists, but I’m not aware of any scheduled discussion on it,” said Genser. “I think if there was to be one, it would take someone who is on the majority side who wanted to rethink it to call for that discussion. “The decision has been made … I personally have no problem with fluoridation, but a number of people do and I think the city should respect that,” Genser continued. “Another way to put it is that we shouldn’t be putting things in the water that aren’t necessary to deliver safe product.” Burke and other opponents said a city known for being progressive should not be in the business of mass medicating. “Living in a city where the environment and health matter — with more health food stores per capita than any city in the country, probably, with organic farmers’ markets and all the ingredient-readers we have — I thought the city would never invoke this,” Burke said. “To my shocking surprise, (it) did.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 19, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)