After much consideration and listening to their constituents, fluoride will no longer be in the City of Amery’s water. While deciding how to vote, council members brought up points based on their research and what they had heard.
One of the main points brought up was that the majority of the water gets used elsewhere, like watering grass, showers, using the restroom, more often than what people are drinking. Because of this it doesn’t make sense to keep fluoridating the water when most doesn’t get consumed.
“I’m just going by a lot of historical stuff that Scott did research on and sent to us was great. But I tend to agree with you that the fluoride that we’re putting in the water is going down the drain, you know, or in the yard or wherever. So I agree. Thinking we should pull the plug on it and see where it goes,” said Alderperson Mike Manor.
The other reasons that came forth was access to alternative methods of being able to have fluoride. One idea mentioned during the meeting was that the county has fluoride tablets available to them, to be able to put in people’s water if they so choose. There is also fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwash making accessibility to fluoride readily available.
“I went home and looked at the three different tubes of toothpaste that we have in the house, and all three of them said, ‘don’t swallow the toothpaste.’ And I’m thinking, ‘what?’,” said Mayor Rick Van Blaricom.
“But it had fluoride in it,” said Alderperson Roger Van Someren.
“I don’t know if that’s the reason they’re saying don’t swallow the toothpaste or if there’s some other reason,” said Van Blaricom.
During the meeting council members did share their source of information as it relates to fluoride. Based on information from Fluoridealert.org, Alderperson Sharon Marks brought up a statistic from the website stating that 97% of fluoride had been removed from water in Europe.
The council thought it appropriate for the public to decide on what was best for their households. Some heard feedback that they didn’t like being forced to accept the chemical in their water supply. The equipment to run fluoride in the water costs upwards of $30,000, but it wasn’t about the money. It was about how much access there is in other products to be able to account for the chemical being out of the water.
There will still be fluoride in the water supply for a short amount of time as public works uses the last remaining supply of what they have on hand, which isn’t a lot according to Public Works Director Jeff Mahoney. The motion was made and seconded to discontinue fluoridation and passed unanimously.
However, one comment was made about possible regrouping and discussing the topic if the public did want it back, but thought it best for the moment to get rid of it.
“We can always regroup later if that’s what we decide to do. But I think for right now, we should discontinue these,” said Manor.