News Archive

… In other news, three people raised concerns about the fluoridation debate during the public hearing. Rick North, a former state director of the American Cancer Society and a Durham resident, said safe fluoride drinking water is a myth. He citied studies that suggest a correlation between fluoride drinking water and lower IQ. Bill Osmunson, […]

The debate over the safety of fluoridated water has come to the forefront once again, now that Oregon Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, which is opposed to a plan to add fluoride to Portland’s water, is asking voters to ban the substance in 2014. Portland’s city council recently voted to add fluoride to the water […]

Author says that artificial fluoridation is inexpensive, has no demonstrated risk, and offers considerable financial, medical, and dental benefits. OPINION – August 27, 2012 — My personal experience with fluoridation began by growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, an area with naturally high fluoride. I noticed two consequences. First, my teeth and those of the kids […]

Fluoridation is back in the headlines — and how — in Portland. This is an issue that directly affects not only Portland families but also families in Gresham, Tigard and Tualatin, which receive Portland drinking water, as well as families living in more than a dozen water districts and water companies that purchase drinking water […]

Comedian George Carlin once joked that everybody complains about their local tap water, and nobody brags about it. Not so in Portland. “Portlanders pride themselves on having some of the best drinking water in the world,” said Kim Kaminski, executive director of Oregonians for Safe Drinking Water, a Portland-based nonprofit that opposes adding fluoride to […]

Few issues at Portland City Hall have been as polarizing as a pending decision to add fluoride to the local water supply. On one side, there’s a well-organized campaign in support that features dentists, health care providers and a host of community organizations. On the other is a group of volunteers launching an initiative to […]

There are other things Roger Burt should be doing right now. So many other things. He’s newly retired, so he and his wife, Jeannie, could be traveling the world. Or unpacking the boxes in the front hall of their new Laurelhurst bungalow. Or he could be following through on his plan to volunteer at a […]

Opponents of the Portland City Council’s fluoridation plan will launch a competing effort Wednesday asking voters in 2014 to ban fluoride from local drinking water. The initiative comes less than a week after a majority of the City Council announced support for adding fluoride to a water supply serving about 900,000 residents in Portland, Gresham, […]

Oregon Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, an activist group opposed to fluoridating Portland’s water supply, has announced that they will seek to file a city ballot initiative, the “Clean Drinking Water Measure”, that would halt the addition of any fluoride to Portland’s water supply. The announcement comes mere days after Mayor Sam Adams tweeted that […]

Rick North is the former CEO of the Oregon American Cancer Society (1994-99) and former Project Director of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Campaign for Safe Food (2003-2011). He retired in February 2011 to become a volunteer confronting undue corporate influence in elections and the government. Author concludes that there’s no consensus that fluoridation is […]