The decision about whether to add fluoride to Edgartown’s public water supply will now go before voters, following a successful petition effort by residents.
The decision about whether to add fluoride to Edgartown’s public water supply will now go before voters next April, following a successful petition effort by residents.
The Edgartown town clerk’s office confirmed Wednesday that a petition had been certified with enough signatures to place the fluoridation question before voters at the annual town meeting next spring. The question will require a vote on the town meeting floor and by ballot at the annual town election, assistant town clerk Karen Medeiros said.
Board of health chairman Harold Zadeh (right): "Let's move ahead."
Board of health chairman Harold Zadeh (right): "Let's move ahead."
Meanwhile, at a meeting Tuesday, the Edgartown board of health stood by its vote last month to take steps to add fluoride to the water supply. The vote has sparked heated debate at meetings before the board of health and water commission in recent weeks.
Board of health members Harold Zadeh and Dr. Garrett Orazem reaffirmed their Oct. 10 vote to fluoridate the town water supply. The third board member, Kathie Case, abstained from the original vote and was not at the meeting.
The board’s decision was published Oct. 20. Under state law, town voters then had 90 days to gather a petition to bring the matter before town meeting.
And while the successful petition ensures a binding vote in the spring, members of the town water commission and other residents at the meeting Tuesday again called on the board of health to rescind its vote. Critics have cited both concerns about the health effects of fluoridation and what they claim was a flawed process.
Residents at the meeting called for board of health to rescind their vote.
Residents at the meeting called for board of health to rescind their vote.
Board of health members have said the decision was in the interest of public health because fluoride is well established to reduce tooth decay, and that they welcomed a town vote. About 15 people attended the meeting, including two Island dentists who said they back the board’s position.
Town health agent Matt Poole said Tuesday that town counsel had advised the board against rescinding the vote.
Mr. Zadeh began the meeting by apologizing for not involving the water commission earlier in the process. Water commissioner David Burke, who led the petition initiative, said discussion about fluoride should have taken place earlier. “We’re looking for opportunities to be educated. Education should have taken place before the order . . . They should start by educating us,” he said.
“What else is good for us that could be put in the water,” Edgartown resident Maria Thibodeau said, pointing out that vegetables are healthy, but eating them is a choice.
Dr. Bruce Golden, pediatric dentist.
Dr. Bruce Golden, pediatric dentist.
Debra Gaines said she found a study that linked fluoride to cognitive difficulties, and questioned whether it contributed to the rising rates of obesity in the United States.
But Dr. Bruce Golden, a pediatric dentist in Vineyard Haven, said a long list of organizations, including the American Medical Association, have found that fluoride is safe. Every doctor and dentist on the Island signed a letter of support for fluoride when Oak Bluffs was debating the issue several years ago, he said.
“I have to think about all the families that need help,” he said, adding that he’s seen young children who have to put under anesthesia at the hospital to have dental work done.
One person noted that Oak Bluffs is the only Island town that adds fluoride to its public water supply. “Then we have an awful lot of work to do,” Dr. Golden said.
Dr. Karen Gear, a Vineyard Haven endodontist, added her support. “I concur with Dr. Goldin and Dr. Orazem that there are numerous studies that have proven fluoride is safe,” she said. “It can be done and it can be done safely.”
Tensions persisted. Toward the end of the meeting, Mr. Zadeh asked if Mr. Burke thought the board of health acted with forethought and malice. Mr. Burke said he did.
“If that’s what you believe I will step down and you can take my place,” Mr. Zadeh said. He said the board had made the decision because they thought it was a benefit for the town. “So let’s move ahead,” he said, adding that now that the issue would be up to town voters to decide, information sessions can begin.
“Please, if there can be transparency,” Mr. Burke said.
Comments
I would like to clarify that
Debra Gaines EdgartownI would like to clarify that my statement regarding 71% of the
adult population in the United States is overweight or obese was made in response to Dr. Golden's stating that 2/3rds of the US population is already receiving fluoridated water, therefore it would only be natural that we should as well. My point was meant to illustrate that being in the majority isn't necessarily the best place to be. Furthermore, the Vineyard does not tend to be a place that does things just because other communities do them.
Dr. Golden is not a resident
Maria EdgartownDr. Golden is not a resident of Edgartown - he lives in Chilmark, where the water is not fluoridated and where no one is suggesting it should be, so despite his statement that he goes by the high school at least twice a week to fill up his water bottle with OB's fluoridated water, it's hard to consider his vote as one of confidence - especially since he is also a passionate advocate for decreased consumption of bottled water (a position seeming in counterintuitive opposition to the desire to adulterate the water for an entire population, undoubtedly driving some people who don't currently buy bottled water to turn to bottled water in hopes of avoiding the undesired fluoride). Also, a recommendation from the American Medical Association rings a little hollow when they are the same body who long sided with the tobacco industry in favor of the safety of cigarettes. Fluoride may become just like one of these other in-hindsight-we-know-better issues (like cigarettes, or DDT, which you can ask our osprey about, or sun exposure, or any other area where knowledge gained with time changed our understanding), so Edgartown residents should think carefully about approving this measure, when fluoride is already readily available elsewhere and doesn’t need to be added to the water for everyone to ingest.
For each study that proposes fluoride’s safety and efficacy, another study disputes it. For example, the World Health Organization has provided data that show that tooth decay trends in all nations, irrespective of their water fluoridation, has actually decreased – and that nations with the least amount of tooth decay are those that don’t fluoridate their water. The correlation is not simplistic, but the data suggest that at least some further inquiry is required before a wide-scale introduction of fluoride to our water. On the other hand, no one disputes the fact that sugar and poor dental hygiene are responsible for cavities – there are no contradictory conspiracy theories floating around about how sugar is actually good for you and your teeth. Perhaps the Board of Health could focus their cavity-prevention efforts on reducing sugar consumption in the population before trying to add fluoride to the water with no stated plan for guaranteeing that it will get to those who may need it in the dosage they need (which they can’t do, because it is an impossible measure to control). True, other communities in the US have fluoridated water, but still other communities are trying to get rid of it, and the recommended dosage has recently been decreased out of recognition of over-fluoridating.
Pretending that the Board of Health’s autocratic vote was really only out of their desire to put the issue before the town residents and therefore that the pending town vote will provide citizens with a choice is really only presenting a false choice – allowing the decision of a few to determine the fate for the many. Edgartown residents already have a true choice about fluoride now – for those who want it, it is available cheaply, easily, and widely. For those who don’t, they can drink our town water (one of the best municipal waters around) with confidence and peace of mind.
I use fluoride toothpaste. I eat non-organic blueberries. I vaccinate my child and I avail myself of modern medicine, so I am not simply opposing this idea out of hand or out of some knee-jerk libertarian motivations (and I certainly rarely stick my neck out about anything even vaguely political in a small town). Those actions of mine are choices that I make freely, but water is a life necessity and clean, pure water is not something that should be so easily given up. Water fluoridation was first started in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945 – you may remember hearing about water quality issues in Michigan recently, with widespread high levels of lead being found. Edgartown residents should think carefully before opting to follow their example (not to say that fluoride and lead are connected – simply, once you stop caring about the quality of your water, it’s a slippery slope to further contaminants).
A few links from peer-reviewed sources for your information:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3956646/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=10.1289/ehp.1104912
Completely insane idea. Vote
Martha MageeCompletely insane idea. Vote NO.
The last commentor said; The
charlie callahan so boston/edgartownThe last commentor said; The vineyard doesn't do things just because other communities do them. The vineyard also doesn't do anything for affordable housing,ecxept for a few very dedicated and kind people. Flouridating water won't help anyone aquire a new BMA or a Rover, but it will help WORKING CLASS children have better teeth. How can you be against it
All schools offer dental care
Gail Gardner EdgartownAll schools offer dental care for children who need it - Vineyard Smiles - including Edgartown School. The cost alone is one reason to be against it. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to put fluoride into water - much of which literally goes down the drain via flushing and showers. The health of everyone other than working class children (an maybe working class children also) is another reason. The terrible method used to begin this process in the first place is another reason. The fact that a town shouldn't be held hostage by two people who voted, without any discussion, to try to put this into place is another reason. Studies that show that it doesn't actually help that much is another reason. Studies that show that it is actually harmful is another reason. How about the fact that many of those working class children probably have well water anyway so won't be getting the fluoridated water? That's yet one more reason.I could go on. How about a program that is supported by the town in which the working class children whose families want them to have fluoride get it in another form? Why make everyone have it because some may need it? My kids grew up in town and didn't drink fluoridated water and have fine teeth.I got fluoride as a kid and I had a ton of cavities in comparison to my own children. Keep fluoride out of the water. Sign kids up for Vineyard Smiles if they can't afford regular dental care and let the rest of the town citizens drink their non-fluoridated water.
I'm working class. My
Slater MVI'm working class. My children have great teeth. It's called brushing, and controlling sugar intake.
Please don't turn this in to
Edg nativePlease don't turn this in to a socioeconomic thing. Are you a year-round Edgartown resident or a part-time Bostonian, too? What are you doing to increase affordable housing on the Island - do you rent your second home to a working-class family? Edgartown residents can be against fluoride in the water because there isn't proof that those "working class children" are going to be the ones who drink the water (and you seem to be suggesting that this measure won't impact the "not-working class" people with town water in their taps, who, what, can afford reverse osmosis filtration systems or might only be here on the Island for a few weeks a year?), and there isn't even proof that fluoridating the water matters. Any scientist will agree that correlation is not causation. If it's an economic matter, then whether the cost of adding fluoride to the water is $64,000 (as the Times erroneously reported) or $640,000 (as initial estimates suggest), that's a whole lot of fluoride toothpaste and dental visits for families who need them.
It's like Fox News voters are
SladeIt's like Fox News voters are having their say in Edgartown -- reactionary, ill-informed, wrong.
Or did Oak Bluffs voters
Sapphire EdgartownOr did Oak Bluffs voters drink the Kool-Aid?
Please do not add fluoride to
Lorraine EdgartownPlease do not add fluoride to our wonderful Edgartown water. It is easy to get fluoride to developing youngsters in other ways. Parental involvement may be a sticking point, but if youngsters can get sodas, snack foods, candy, sugar, they can get fluoride. It may take a bit of education but it can be done. The effect of fluoride on adults and seniors is not really known. Yes, I have read the studies. I am one of nine children who did not have fluoride in the water, none of us needed braces and we all have our own teeth in our dotage. Please rethink this and do not go off on a tangent.
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