A poll conducted last fall after the Portland City Council approved a plan to fluoridate the city’s water showed support among Eugene residents for adding fluoride to the City of Eugene’s water.

The telephone survey of 200 likely voters by the Lindholm Company in September 2012 found 59 percent supported fluoridation; 29 percent opposed the idea, with 13 percent undecided.

Voters in Portland took the issue to the ballot, and in May 2013 voted not to add fluoride to the city’s water.

Nationwide, more than 2 in 3 Americans get water from a supply with added fluoride. In Oregon, that figure is a little more than 1 in 5.

The Eugene Water and Electric Board has no fluoridation plans, nor does the utility have a position on the topic, said spokesman Joe Harwood.

Utility patrons have weighed in 6 times, dating back to a postcard pollin 1953, EWEB said.

The first public vote came in November 1958. Voters defeated the proposal 58 to 42.

In November 1964, voters approved fluoridation. Opponents brought the issue back to the ballot in 1965, and voters agreed to end the 6-month fluoridation program.

In the mid-1970s, voters again said yes to fluoride – only to have a petition bring the issue back to the ballot, where 64 percent of voters said no to fluoride.

The issue was revisited in the 1990s but didn’t move forward, EWEB said.

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Lindholm Company blog on fluoride poll

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