Town Hall meeting attendees express opinions about fluoride

“I am not a big fan of government medicating people without their consent. We are technically mass medicating you and your children, and technically without any of your consent.”

That was the sentiment shared by Mayor Jerry Lowery at Sparta’s Town Hall meeting June 27, at Oldham Theater. Only one topic was on the agenda: fluoridation. The city aldermen and mayor were present to hear the public’s opinions about fluoride in the city water supply. Before opening to the public, Mayor Lowery gave a brief overview of studies, weighing the pros and cons. It should be noted that Mayor Lowery supports the removal of fluoride from the water supply, but for the sake of fairness, he wanted to present both arguments equally first.

Part of Mayor Lowery’s presentation showed the historical benefit to adding fluoride to the water. In 1945, for example, Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city in America to fluoridate its water, and it saw a major decrease in cavities among children afterward. One of the other major benefits listed is that fluoridation benefits low-income households that may not have as much access to daily sources of fluoride. Mayor Lowery then countered this with some of the drawbacks and arguments against fluoridation.

The major con to fluoridation is risk of overexposure. Fluoride nowadays is found present in trace amounts in processed foods, beverages, and ever increasingly effective toothpastes. Mayor Lowery argues, that if there are so many other sources for your fluoride, the need for fluoridated water becomes irrelevant. In fact, it becomes a health risk because of potential overexposure.

“So, the more we put in, and the more you intake, it can create problems,” he said. “For me, there’s no reason to mass medicate people when there’s other things lowering it.”

Mayor Lowery also showed studies from both Harvard and the World Health Organization that showcased a decrease in tooth decay regardless of fluoridation. Even countries that have not fluoridated their water have begun to decrease tooth decay, so Mayor Lowery argues this is another good example that other sources of fluoride give enough.

Overexposure to fluoride leads to something called “fluorosis.” Fluorosis can cause white spots on teeth and, in extreme cases, begin to stain them brown. There have also been potential links to high fluoride exposure and neurotic effects. Mayor Lowery does stress, however, that on the effects of fluorosis, there is still a lot of debate among experts and no ironclad consensus yet.

The last bit that Mayor Lowery cited was the Tennessee General Assembly. HB 0897 was a bill introduced that would have ceased adding fluoride to drinking water supplies in public water systems by May 1, 2025, if it had passed. It did not pass, but it was also set to be on the voting agenda next year as well. Mayor Lowery believes it likely will pass in the future, and so Sparta could “be proactive” and remove it now to benefit its residents before the state requires it.

After Mayor Lowery’s presentation, he opened the floor to the public to share their opinions. What began was then nearly an hour of members of the public all speaking up for the removal of fluoride. There were personal anecdotes of its adverse effects, audience members citing scholarly studies listing the negatives, and business owners speaking on the benefit to them if fluoride was removed.

Nobody in the crowd supported keeping fluoride in the water system.

There was also the question posed to the mayor about how much money yearly the removal of fluoride would save. It was about $40,000 roughly, which Mayor Lowery said is not an enormous amount for a city budget, but it is still money that would be saved.

Mayor Lowery intends to have the vote for fluoride removal be on the Aug. 7 agenda. The mayor and aldermen meeting will be at 5 p.m. at Sparta City Hall. If anyone else wishes to voice their concern either for or against the removal, Mayor Lowery heavily encouraged residents of Sparta to call and speak with their aldermen.