Palmer’s city council has voted to end fluoridation of the city’s water supply. In a six to one vote, the council decided to stop adding the mineral, which is known to help prevent tooth decay. Palmer has been adding fluoride to its water since 1967. The decision last week was made because of the increased availability of fluoride in toothpastes and dental treatments, according to Palmer deputy mayor Richard Best. He said naturally occurring fluoride is already in Palmer water.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approves fluoride in community water systems.
Palmer joins Fairbanks and Juneau in stopping the fluoride treatments. Earlier this year, the Fairbanks Fluoride Task Force recommended that Fairbanks cease fluoridating its water. The advocacy group, Fluoride Free Fairbanks lobbied for the change, because that city has naturally occurring fluoride anyway, according to spokesman Douglas Yates, higher concentrations of the mineral in the water system could pose health risks.
Yates says new information by independent researchers has been developed during the past decade.
The CDC’s website indicates no evidence showing a link between water fluoridation and negative health impacts on people or animals.
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APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
