For a year, Mt. Pleasant City Commissioner Kathleen Ling has been the chair for a task force that has been looking at the issue of fluoride in the city’s water.

Ling and the committee submitted their findings to the commission, and set a June 14 date for discussion on their recommendations to “suspend it.”

The city has been putting fluoride in the water since 1956, and over the past 10 years, the issue has been on the ballot three times, said Kathie Grinzinger, city manager.

“The report is available online,” said Grinzinger. “Commissioner Ling is asking for a formal receipt of the report.”

Ling said the “committee has been meeting for a year,” and the four committee were given “lots to do and lots to read” and she hopes the public has the opportunity to read the report and the summary of their recommendation.

“We believe that elected officials have an obligation to be good custodians of the public water system,” said Ling, as she read remarks by Sharyl Majorski, a member of the task force. “The precautionary principle dictates that we err on the side of safety.

“Until we feel that we can say with a high degree of certainty that water fluoridation is doing no harm, we believe it is prudent to stop using it until the safety issues raised in the most recent reports are addressed.” …

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