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The city of Bartow on Tuesday evening hosted a community forum to discuss removing fluoride from the city’s water supply — a measure Lakeland officials are also considering.
The forum presented experts on two sides of the issue to a packed Bartow Civic Center crowd. Multiple medical associations say fluoridating water prevents tooth decay and cavities, while others say it is toxic and harms children.
To view a video of the meeting, go here.
Pro-fluoride: Johnny Johnson is a retired dentist who practiced for decades and is also president of the American Fluoridation Society. He spoke in favor of keeping fluoride in the water.
Johnson presented peer-reviewed research that shows fluoridated water prevents cavities, which can cause pain, infection, sepsis and even death in rare cases, and, he and others have said, is safe in the amounts recommended.
He also maintained that cavities increase when fluoride is removed from a municipality’s drinking water, as a Canadian study showed.
Johnson presented data from studies around the world, showing that IQ scores are not lowered by fluoride consumption and listed multiple organizations that recommend including fluoride in drinking water to prevent cavities, including:
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American Dental Association
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- American Medical Association
- Academy of General Dentistry
- American Dental Hygienists Association
- The U.S. Department of Defense
- World Health Organization
Anti-fluoride: Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo spoke for a few minutes but did not present any documentation.
Ladapo cited the view of newly-confirmed U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that fluoride is toxic.
Ashley Malin, who has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, also argued against fluoride, saying it lowers IQ and causes ADHD, along with a host of other ailments. Malin is a University of Florida assistant professor of epidemiology and psychology.
Malin presented results from a number of journals, saying of one study: “The results support the possibility of an adverse effect of high fluoride exposure on children’s neurodevelopment.” Some have questioned those results, including the Journal of American Medical Association Pediatrics, which stated 52 of the studies analyzed in a recent report were rated “high risk of bias” and 22 were rated low risk of bias. It also stated that 64 studies reported inverse associations between fluoride exposure measures and children’s IQ. In other words, as fluoride levels went up, IQ levels went down.
But, the fluoride levels were twice as high as the water fluoridation levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in communities with lower IQ scores in children. The communities had high levels of fluoride exposure due to natural fluoride from water running over rocks that contain high levels of the mineral and winding up in water, not from humans adding fluoride to pubic water supplies.
Other studies have found no link between fluoride and IQ.
Malin also cited her own research, which appeared in the journal Environmental Health in 2015: “Parents reported higher rates of medically-diagnosed ADHD in their children in states in which a greater proportion of people receive fluoridated water from public water supplies. The relationship between fluoride exposure and ADHD warrants future study.”
Local medical professionals: Two dentists spoke Tuesday evening, one from Bartow, one from Lakeland. Both were in favor of fluoridation.
“I urge you to keep fluoride in your water,” said John Paul of Lakeland, who has practiced for 35 years in Polk County.
“Perhaps my experience will be a benefit,” he told commissioners, who are working to come to a decision.
“Fluoride is not magic — it doesn’t make all the cavities go away.” But, Paul added that he can tell when his patients live in a home with fluoridated water and when they don’t. Those with fluoridated water might come to him with one or two cavities in their entire mouths. Those without fluoride come in with one or two cavities per tooth.
Dr. Geoffrey Rintel, a Lakeland facial surgeon, said fluoridation is one of the most effective public health undertakings and has been shown to be safe and effective.
Rintel said he often has to consult on cases of children with rapid tooth decay, when “extraction is the only course of action. When I look into the parents’ eyes, I see self-blame.”
Bartow commissioners are set to make a decision in the next month. It is not scheduled on a Lakeland City Commission agenda, although commissioners are discussing it.
National and state debate: Adding fluoride to public drinking water has been controversial for years.
In November, now-Sec. Kennedy vowed that the Trump administration would “advise all U.S. systems to remove fluoride from public water.” According to The New York Times, Utah could soon become the first state to do just that.
In Florida, the state does not mandate fluoridation. Local governments control fluoridation policy.
Several cities have recently banned fluoride, including Cedar Key, Ormond Beach, Winter Haven, Melbourne, Port St. Lucie, Tavares, Palm Bay, Immokalee and Stuart.
According to Florida Today, Brevard County stopped adding fluoride to its Mims treatment plant in 2021.
The Fluoride Action Committee shows non-fluoridated counties in Florida, having all or almost all non-fluoridated systems, are: Charlotte, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Liberty, Okeechobee, Putnam, Sumter, Union, Wakulla, Walton and Washington.
Other towns that have removed fluoride from their drinking water supplies in recent years are: Boynton Beach, Milton, Mims, Palatka, Perry, Pine Island, and Wellington.
But, the Leesburg City Commission in December voted 3-2 to add fluoride to its drinking water starting next summer.
Public comment: Multiple people from other Florida counties, including Collier and Alachua, spoke in favor of removing fluoride.
Robert Goodman spearheaded Polk County’s movement to remove books from public school libraries, keep masks of children during COVID-19 and fought mandatory vaccinations. He is the faith leader of Citizens Defending Freedom and spoke at the Bartow forum as did the group’s education coordinator, Pam Luce. Both are against fluoride in water supplies.
“I’m going to advise all of you when you go home” to look at the warning on your toothpaste, Goodman said. “‘If you ingest it, call a doctor immediately’ — that should end the argument right there.”
Lakeland City Commissioners: Mayor Bill Mutz and City Commissioners Sara Roberts McCarley and Guy LaLonde attended Tuesday night’s meeting in Bartow.
“There is compelling evidence from my perspective to remove the additive from the water, yet I am eager to hear the other commissioners’ perspective at our March 3 meeting before I reach a final conclusion,” Mutz said on Wednesday.
LaLonde said the commissioners have been receiving countless emails providing information on both sides of the issue. “I am meeting with two different obstetricians between today and tomorrow for their insight as well,” he said. “I want to make a well-informed decision.”
Commissioner Mike Musick on Wednesday reiterated his support for removing fluoride. “I stated in our last meeting (when the Lakeland City Commission talked about fluoride in water) that I would be an advocate for removing it, and that opinion has only strengthened based on what I have learned, seen and heard over these last few presentations and in my own research.”
Commissioner Stephanie Madden said she watched the forum, but was at a conference Wednesday with Lakeland Electric in Gainesville. “I am still digesting all of the information ahead of our March City Commission meeting,” she said.
Commissioner Chad McLeod said he had not watched a recording of the forum, nor has he made a decision yet.
Commissioner Bill “Tiger” Read has been having health issues and has not attended the last few City Commission meetings. In the past, he has said he wants fluoride removed from Lakeland’s drinking water.
Roberts McCarley has said in the past that she is open to having a discussion about fluoride in Lakeland. “I’m trying to process everything we heard last night because I see both sides,” she said Wednesday.
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Seems if you want fluoride, you could purchase fluoride mouth rinses at the drugstore. I am always concerned that “Bubba” down at the plant confuses grams and kilograms, and over-fluoridates the water.
I really wish that they could prioritize addressing the LEAD PIPES downtown and not the…… checks notes fluoridation of water.