Fluoride dispute surfaces again

Thank you for your article "Fluoridation will be hot topic."

Your article suggests there is some proof that fluoridation improves dental health.

The California Oral Health Needs Assessment Study of 2,520 preschool children that was used to convince California legislators to mandate fluoridation statewide in 1995, according to a report in the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry stated, "It may . . . be that fluoridation of drinking water does not have a strong protective effect against early childhood cavities" and, "Our analysis did not appear to be affected by whether or not children lived in an area with fluoridated water."

The theory that fluoride taken systemically may reduce tooth decay has now been corrected and clarified in the cover story of the July 2000 Journal of the American Dental Association and the Center of Disease Control publication on Aug. 17, 2001. Both articles confirm there is no significant reduction in tooth decay from the mechanism of ingested fluoride.

Although there is a California law that mandates water fluoridation for districts with 10,000 or more connections, the law did not apply to either the Metropolitan Water District or Las Virgenes Municipal Water District. The decision to add a toxic waste (hydrofluosilicic acid) to our water was voluntary. Edgar Dymally, spokesperson at the MWD confirms, "Metropolitan was not covered under the law and the pending fluoridation regulation."

LVMWD has 10,000 connections, however the law only requires those districts to fluoridate if and only if a third party shows up with the money. In October of 1995 the general manager of the district, Jim Colbaugh, stated that the money might never come.

If I were the general manager of the district I might have written the following:

"We (LVMWD) have 10,000 connections. If someone shows up with money, Spier's law (AB733) will apply and our district will have to deal with it, however, until that time we see nothing in the law that requires MWD or LVMWD do anything proactive on this issue and voluntarily add a toxic waste product to the water." Robert Singer Calabasas