A grassroots organization launched a campaign Monday to get the City of Salina to stop adding fluoride to the water supply.

Members of a group called “Salina Cares” spoke to city commissioners during a comment period during a study session before the Monday’s meeting.

Group spokesman John Boesen first gave a little background. He said that in 1956 the public, by nearly a 5 – 1 margin, voted against adding fluoride to the Salina water supply. But 12 years later, in 1968, city commissioners made a decision to begin adding fluoride to the water.

“Salina Cares” contends that fluoride has “adverse environmental and health effects”. The say that the adding of fluoride to the water amounts to an “illegal practice of forced medication”.

“Salina Cares” wants the city to immediately stop adding fluoride to the water. Boesen said that there are six cities in Kansas that have stopped adding fluoride to their water supplies, including Hutchinson,Wichita, and McPherson.

Many health experts believe that fluoridation is beneficial. The fluoridation of public water has been hailed by the U.S. Center for Disease Control as one of the top medical achievements of the 20th Century.

The American Dental Association calls water fluoridation “unquestionably one of the safest and most beneficial, cost-effective public health measures for preventing, controlling, and in some cases reversing, tooth decay.”

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