Village of DeForest residents could potentially lose the fluoride from their public water supply depending on future actions by the village board.
The Village of DeForest Board began discussing removing fluoride at their meeting on Nov. 18.
Municipalities around Wisconsin and the nation have been debating or already taken such steps. The DeForest Board has been considering the issue since the DeForest Public Service Committee recommended to the board that the fluoridation of water be discontinued in November. Community members have shared mixed opinions on the issue.
Chris McDonald, a Windsor resident, said that he is in favor of continuing the fluoridation of the water. He said he feels that the board should wait to receive more information about the issue before making a decision.
“The board members [are] making decisions that can impact my family’s health and other families in the community without giving adequate time for input,” McDonald said. “It almost felt like they were trying to push the decision through before the end of the year. That’s my concern.”
Although he resides in Windsor, McDonald said he and his two daughters spend much of their time at DeForest facilities. He said that the removal of fluoride would jeopardize the dental health of his children.
On the other hand, Brenda Staudenmaier, a Green Bay resident involved in a lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency and clean water advocate, is urging for the removal of fluoride. She said the fluoridation of water leads to a decrease in children’s IQ.
“I think DeForest understands that this needs to be looked at,” Staudenmaier said. “I think that’s what they’re doing at this time, is evaluating, should we continue with this program? Are we giving our citizens a choice when we add something like this to the drinking water? Are the citizens having informed consent? Are they aware of the risks?”
Staudenmaier won a lawsuit against the EPA in September. The ruling states: “Plaintiffs have proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that water fluoridation at the level of 0.7 mg/L – the prescribed optimal level of fluoridation in the United States – presents an ‘unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation under the conditions of use.’”
Now, Staudenmaier continues to advocate that communities remove fluoride from their drinking water.
Judd Blau, Director of Public Services in DeForest, is currently in favor of the removal of fluoride. His concern began when he saw the deterioration of the water pumps that contain fluoride and had begun to erode, and spent nearly $10,000 to replace pumps.
“I don’t understand why we’re putting fluoride in, or what kind of benefits we’re getting from it,” Blau said. “The things I’ve been reading or there’s other studies and other things that are coming out that are saying, ‘Hey, this isn’t maybe the greatest thing in the world,’ so I tend to err on the side of caution.”
Before making a decision, Blau said he and the remainder of the board need to continue to educate themselves on the issue.
Abigail Lowery, a DeForest resident, said that she needs to continue to educate herself on the issue as well; however, she was mainly concerned because the issue seemed to come from nowhere.
“I didn’t even know that it was going to be an issue or was on anybody’s radar until the Saturday before the public services meeting in November,” Lowery said. “I only heard about it because a friend of mine sent out an email saying that there was going to be discussion about removing fluoride from our water supply at the public services meeting, and if people had an opinion about it, they might want to attend. So that’s what I did.”
Lowery said that she wants DeForest to continue fluoridating their water out of concern for her children’s dental health.
“I have two kids. I’ve been hearing for many years from dentists and pretty much anybody in the public health sphere, how important fluoride in our water supply is,” Lowery said. “For a proposal to be put forward, that it be taken out, I, for the sake of my kids’ dental care and everyone’s dental care in the village, I would really hope that that decision and that discussion before the decision would be very well thought out and researched and well informed.”
Morgan Finke, the Public Information Officer of Public Health Madison and Dane County said DeForest’s current rate of water fluoridation at 0.7 milligrams per liter is safe. It becomes hazardous when it reaches 1.5 milligrams per liter. Finke also said that she has been in contact with the DeForest Village Board about the issue.
McDonald shared this sentiment, saying anything is toxic when consumed at a higher rate.
“All the studies have looked at double the amount that we’re using today,” McDonald said. “So many other things can be toxic if you take twice as much as recommended.”
Staudenmaier disagreed, saying that this amount of fluoride in water still has lasting effects on children.
“I believe that [DeForest’s] water utility or their village board wanted to take a look at fluoride now, because there is so much evidence finding that maybe it’s not as safe as we’ve been assured over the years by our local health department and the state health department,” Staudenmaier said.
The DeForest Village Board will discuss the issue at the next Village Board meeting on Jan. 7.
Original article online at: https://www.hngnews.com/the_star/local_news/deforest-village-board-discusses-potential-fluoride-removal-from-water/article_5e8f2cee-be33-11ef-96e8-ab1eca0ca88b.html