Title of Editorial: Staunton has bigger issues than flouride [sic]

It’s not that we don’t believe Kenneth Case has an issue with the city’s water supply. Case asked Staunton City Council last week to discontinue adding flouride [sic] to city water, citing its dangers. He is a mouth cancer survivor.

t’s an argument that’s been set in numerous localities across the nation. Experts on both sides of the argument have had their say. A Google search for flouride [sic] and drinking water brings up 1.3 million mentions of it on the Web.

For us, we side with the American Dental Association and state health officials.

Opponents claims that flourine [sic] causes health risks for people and livestock. Case told council members that it aggravates his physical condition.

The practice of putting a small concentration of flouride [sic] in drinking water supplies has been around for nearly a century. At its simplest, the tiny bit of flouride [sic] helps form healthy enamel on children’s teeth. It is found to help children in the poorest parts of our cities and counties, especially those in which dental care is lacking.

We urge City Council to study the issue in house and inform residents what filtering devices are best for keeping flouride [sic] from homes where it isn’t wanted.

The debate has gone on across the country; we don’t need to spend more time on it here. Too many other issues have our elected officials’ attention.

Opinions expressed in this feature represent the majority opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board, consisting of: Roger Watson, president and publisher; David Fritz, executive editor; Cindy Corell, community conversations editor; and Jim McCloskey, editorial cartoonist.

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