CLARKSBURG — After the Clarksburg Water Board voted on April 28 to remove fluoride from the city’s water supply, the Harrison-Clarksburg Board of Health voted on Thursday to pen a letter to the water board urging that the vote be rescinded.
“Two of the board members voted to stop fluoride based on what they read on the Internet,” Board of Health Chairman Dr. George Shehl said. “I don’t have any information of what they read, but there’s plenty of evidence based on the benefit of adding fluoride to water.”
Many national health organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. surgeon general, as well as State Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta, have spoken out about the benefits of fluoridated water, Shehl said.
“It’s a strong belief of something that was on the Internet with no real scientific basis to it,” Shehl said of the water board’s decision, urging that fluoride be kept in the water supply “for the greater good of the health of the people in Harrison County.”
Other board members agreed with Shehl’s standpoint on the city’s fluoridated water and voted in support of sending a letter to the water board.
“They’ve been putting fluoride in the water for at least 50 years. In that number of years, somebody would detect something if there was any evidence,” Board of Health member James Scudere said.
County Health Officer Dr. Nancy Joseph, while not in attendance at the meeting, urged that the health board take action to keep fluoride in the city’s water supply, health department Administrator Chad Bundy said.
“There are many other people in the medical community who are kind of organizing around this thing, and I’ve been contacted on multiple occasions,” Bundy said.
In another matter…
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