Expert: Stop Putting Fluoride in CT Drinking Water

Patch Editor Eileen McNamara contributed to this report.

Though state Sen. Joe Markley's proposal for a ban on adding fluoride to public water supplies failed in the General Assembly this year, the Southington Republican was back at the state capitol this week pushing the idea.

During an informal hearing Monday in Hartford Markley said he would bring his bill back before the legislature during its next session in the fall, according to a Hartford Courant report.

Markley wants to ban the addition of fluoride in public water supplies because, he says, it adds an unfair and costly burden to water utility companies.

In renewing his case this week against the practice, Markley relied on an expert, Paul Connett, a retired chemist and college professor. Connett said that while fluoride in public water supplies has substantially reduced cavities for millions in Connecticut and the U.S., it can harm the bones and brains of young children, the Courant reports.

He also said the state, which mandates adding fluoride in public water systems, is usurping the rights of residents to decide for themselves whether to take fluoride or give it to their children.

"We should never use the public water supply to deliver medicine. No doctor could do to us what the state of Connecticut is doing," the newspaper quotes Connett.

The Centers for Disease Control listed the fluoridation of water among its top 10 public health achievements of the 20th Century, along with safer automobiles, vaccinations, safer workplaces, and recognizing tobacco as a health risk. The list was published in the April 2, 1999 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The use of fluoride in public water supplies started in 1945, and more than 400 million people are served by water supplies that include fluoride.

Sen. Toni Boucher, who represents Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton, agrees with Markley and said Tuesday that she would support legislation to stop fluorinating water until the full effect can be studied.

“I’m really pleased he’s highlighting this issue,” Boucher said, noting that all three of her children grew up drinking fluorinated water.

“None of the three have ever had a cavity in their lives,” she said, however, “I’m concerned about the possible health issues — trying to improve one situation may cause another.”

Boucher said that while the intent to provide better health is a good one, preventing tooth decay in individuals is not the same as mandatory vaccinations.

“We have gone that way with inoculations but there’s a case for vaccines in preventing the spread of disease,” she explained, while adding fluoride to water does not have a community health aspect.

“I would rather our water was pure,” she added. “But before anything is done, one has to be very certain that it won’t cause any long term illness and effect.”