The Sonoma City Council holds its regular meeting on Monday, May 6, at the Community Meeting Room, and will take another look at adding fluoride to drinking water to help prevent tooth decay.

The issue was before the Council last month, when the City Council heard a presentation by the County Department of Health Services on its programs to address the oral health problems in Sonoma County, including a proposal, now under study, to fluoridate the County water supply system.

This time there will be a presentation by the Weston A. Price Foundation opposing the concept of a water fluoridation program. The Foundation is non-profit organization dedicated to “restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism.

The issue of water fluoridation was wrapped up in Cold War politics during the 1950s, when it was opposed (not backed as previously and erroneously stated) by right-wing organizations such as the John Birch Society. It was famously parodied in the 1963 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove, when Gen Jack D. Ripper launched an atomic missile attack against the USSR because of perceived threats to “our precious bodily fluids.”

Opposition to fluoridation today finds many European Green parties in its camp. The issues of nutrition and an increased concern over any chemical additives to food and water make the issue contemporary again. But as the proposal is a Sonoma County initiative, the direct impact of a stance by the Sonoma City Council is unknown.

Print PDF