The Battle Ground City Council rejected a motion to begin the formal process of potentially ending water fluoridation by a 5-2 vote on Monday, July 21, halting any near-term change to the city’s long-standing water treatment policy.
The motion, introduced by Councilmember Victoria Ferrer and seconded by Tricia Davis, would have triggered a 90-day public hearing process required by state law before the council could formally vote on whether to stop adding fluoride to the water supply.
A majority of the council opposed the idea, citing doubts over the science presented by critics and a lack of clear concern from Battle Ground residents.
Nearly 30 people spoke during public comment, each limited to one minute due to time constraints. Councilmember Shane Bowman noted afterward that many of those who spoke against fluoridation were not residents of Battle Ground.
Vancouver resident Wynn Grcich spoke strongly against fluoride, holding up books she claimed demonstrate its dangers.
“If you read ‘The Fluoride Deception,’ there’s no way on earth that you would ever put that in the water,” Grcich said. “Which ones did you read before you chose to put poison in the drinking water?”
Pediatric dentist Dr. Conway Jensen, who has practiced in Battle Ground for 17 years, urged the council to maintain fluoridation, citing his professional experience.
“I see the effects of fluoridation in the community every day,” Jensen said. “It is very beneficial just like oxygen, 21% helpful, 100% will kill you … Everything in proportion is important. The people we’re hurting most when we’re removing the fluoride is our low social economic children, and in this area there’s a lot of those.”
Ferrer, reading from a prepared statement, said she had concerns over what she described as outdated science, ethical concerns and possible health risks related to fluoride ingestion.
“Water fluoridation may have made sense in the 1950s, but we now know that fluoride works best when applied directly on teeth, not swallowed,” Ferrer said. “It’s ethically questionable to me to medicate an entire population without consent, especially when vulnerable groups may be harmed.”
Bowman responded with a pointed critique of anti-fluoride arguments.
“We’ve got dentists here tonight … They’re telling you to use something that’s going to help you,” Bowman said. “I’m gonna trust the people that went to school for 13-plus years … The percentage of their peer group that is coming out against it is so minute that we shouldn’t even be having this discussion.”
He warned that “online echo chambers” were to blame for some of the theories surrounding fluoridation’s impact on IQ.
“I can go online right now and I can look up flat earth, too. And I can find all the information I want about flat earth,” he said. “But if you stay in those silos and you don’t look at the other side, that’s all you’re gonna get.”
Mayor Troy McCoy echoed Bowman’s skepticism.
“The comment that drives my wife and I nuts … is ‘I did my own research.’ Now, that means you googled until you found the answer that agreed with your opinion,” McCoy said. “Research is hard. Research is exhaustive. Research takes a long time … We got a great research project (with) Camas and Washougal; one fluoridates, the other doesn’t. If it really hurt IQs, there would be lawyers knocking at their doors … This is just crackpot science, I mean, there’s just no other word for it.”
Councilmembers Eric Overholser and Jeanie Kuypers said they preferred to put the question to residents through a future citywide survey.
“It should be the people’s choice if they want it out of there… we (can) bring this to our next survey,” Overholser said.
“I just wanna let you know that I’ve been drinking Battle Ground city water since 1990 and I’m doing all right,” Councilmember Cherish DesRochers added.
Fluoride has been added to Battle Ground’s water supply since the early 1960s, following a Citizens Advisory Committee vote. The current concentration is 0.7 milligrams per liter, in line with state and federal guidelines.
Original article online at: https://www.newsbreak.com/the-reflector-1674512/4141108442454-this-is-just-crackpot-science-battle-ground-city-council-rejects-proposal-to-end-water-fluoridation