TEWKSBURY — Amid a widening national debate over the use of the chemical, the Tewksbury Board of Health has been steadily pushing forward towards a potential ban on fluoride in the town’s water supply.
The board met Thursday with an agenda item to continue its ongoing discussion on avenues the town could pursue to remove fluoride from the water supply, a discussion which began last fall in response to national attention on the issue.
Later in the meeting they would vote unanimously to begin planning a public information session, which will likely feature expert proponents and opponents of public water fluoridation speaking to residents about the issue.
“We are committed to public education and open and transparent discussion… Any policy changes regarding fluoridation has to follow a bunch of different rules. So it is not something I believe the Board of Health can or cannot remove or do anything like that,” said Board of Health Chair Melissa Braga during the meeting. “So I would like to propose that we host a public informational workshop.”
Braga’s proposal, which she specified would not be a public hearing, would be to bring in one or two experts from each side of the issue, though the board did not set a firm date for this to take place. The board previously held a public forum on the matter on March 6, during which they heard from residents supporting and opposing the ban.
For the planned public workshop, Braga said it will be less of a ‘back and forth’ discussion, and will instead be focused on professional testimony for and against the idea.
“I think it’s great that people are passionate about things, but I also think we have to keep it in a systematic way as well, for both sides, no matter what,” said Braga.
Fluoride is a common additive to public drinking water supplies as a method of fighting tooth decay and improving dental health, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. As such it is also a common ingredient in toothpaste and other dental hygiene products.
In Massachusetts only about one-third of municipalities add fluoride to their water, but those communities are primarily in the more populated eastern part of the state, and a majority of Massachusetts residents live in communities with fluoridated water.
A number of communities in the western half of the state also lack a community water supply through which fluoride would be added, and instead rely primarily on well water.
Opponents of fluoridation often cite studies suggesting high levels of fluoride in drinking water can lead to decreased IQ levels in children. Tewksbury maintains a level of .6 to .8 milligrams-per-liter of water, and most communities with fluoridated water typically aim for .7 mg/L.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program found in a report released last summer that at 1.5 mg/L of Fluoride in drinking water there is an association with lower IQ in children. The same study found there was insufficient data to determine a similar link at .7 mg/L, though some other studies have suggested that the lower level still has a negative impact on children’s IQ.
Fluoride was initially added to Tewksbury’s drinking water in 1983 following a successful ballot vote. Braga and the Board of Health created a page on the town website listing various studies surrounding fluoride, with conclusions both in favor of and against its use. The Board of Health does not have the authority to remove fluoride from the water on its own. If the issue were to ever come to any sort of vote, the question of removing fluoridation would have to appear on an election ballot.
Original article online at: https://www.lowellsun.com/2025/05/21/tewksbury-board-of-health-continues-fluoride-discussion/