Opponents of attempts to put fluoride in Portland’s water demanded that the city form an “independent scientific review panel to evaluate safety concerns” about the process.

The Clean Water Portland PAC also wants the Council to reject efforts that would move up a public referendum on fluoridation by a year, from May 2014 to next May. City Commissioner Randy Leonard told the Oregonian newspaper he’ll push to fast track the public vote at next week’s City Council meeting.

That isn’t sitting well with opponents. “Rushing the public debate on fluoridation once again would undermine the opportunity for an independent scientific review to create an informed basis for the fluoridation debate in Portland,” the group wrote on Friday. “It would also further fracture public trust in the decision-making process that was already strained by the Council’s September decision to approve fluoridation with little public notice or a public vote.”

The Council had voted 5-0 in September to put fluoride in the city’s water, but opponents enough signatures to force a public vote.

“If the city yields to fluoridation promoters who want to fast track the fluoridation vote to next May, it precludes any chance for a thoughtful and independent scientific review that would benefit all voters,” said Kim Kaminsky, a spokeswoman for Clean Water Portland PAC, in a statement.

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