The Wyandotte Municipal Services Commission voted down a resolution Wednesday to return to fluoridating its water supply.
The city stopped fluoridating its water 10 years ago, when its water treatment plant was undergoing a rehabilitation project, according to the city’s website.
Starting in the 1940s, municipalities around the country have added fluoride to their drinking water as a preventative measure against cavities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the U.S. Public Health Services recommends 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water, communities are not legally obligated to meet that standard.
The issue has become a top concern for U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has called on the CDC to stop recommending fluoridation, asserting that fluoride consumption has been associated with arthritis, bone breaks and thyroid disease, the Associated Press has reported. In May, Utah became the first U.S. state to ban fluoride in public drinking water.
During Wednesday’s meeting in Wyandotte, residents were split on the issue. Some, like Victoria Bondy, were staunchly against fluoridation. She called fluoride a “neurotoxin,” echoing a remark Kennedy has made.
“Flouride is not a magic bullet to creating stronger, healthy teeth,” Bondy told the commission.
Others said the safety and efficacy of the water additive is apparent.
“There are safe amounts of every chemical in the world,” said resident Kim Janeski. “There’s arsenic in our potatoes … The amount of fluoride that we’re speaking of is safe, it’s effective and it has stood the test of time.”
Jeff Johnston, senior vice president and chief science officer for Delta Dental, the largest dental benefits carrier in the country, told the commission that the poorest residents suffer the most from lack of fluoridation, since they often have diets that exacerbate dental health issues.
“The track record of fluoride in this state is exemplary,” said Johnston, who is also a professor of periodontology and oral medicine at the University of Michigan.
The resolution to restore fluoride to Wyandotte’s drinking water failed by a vote of 2-2 with one member absent.
Commissioner Robert Kirby voted against the proposal. He said residents who may be prone to cavities can get the fluoride they need from toothpaste or other sources.
He was the only commissioner to speak about the issue on Wednesday.
Kirby said if the city does reinstitute fluoridation, he’d prefer it do so using a ballot initiative, rather than in a vote from City Hall.
Original article online at: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2025/10/22/wyandotte-commission-votes-to-keep-the-citys-water-fluoride-free/86845118007/