SCHENECTADY Officials considering removal of fluoride from city water Some dentists concerned low-income residents will be at risk BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
For decades, the city has spent thousands to add fluoride to the drinking water in hopes of protecting residents’ teeth. But as the price for the chemical rises and more municipalities question fluoride’s effectiveness, city offi - cials are wondering whether it’s really worth the cost. “If it isn’t that much of a benefi t, we’re going to consider not doing it,” Commissioner of General Services Carl Olsen said. Only one vendor offered a bid for the city’s annual fluoride purchase, and the price nearly doubled, Olsen said. The city had to pay $45,000 for this year’s supply. “So we’re definitely taking a look at it,” Olsen said. “It’s very difficult to get.” Schenectady would not be the first municipality to drop fluoride. The village of Cobleskill stopped putting fluoride in its water last year. Amsterdam in Montgomery County and most Schoharie County public systems don’t treat their water either, and Albany has never added fluoride to its water. Cities started adding fluoride to their water in 1945. They found that it was most effective in protecting teeth if it was consumed before the teeth erupt, and reported a 50 to 60 percent drop in cavities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But later studies, which tried to duplicate the earlier reports, had great difficulty creating scientifically approved control groups since everyone in a city is exposed to the same water. The studies also found much lower rates of cavity reduction, ranging from 18 to 40 percent, according to the CDC. The health agency attributed the lower results to the country’s increased use of fluoride in other sources, particularly toothpaste. With all the other ways to get fluoride today, it’s possible that treated water doesn’t play as large a role anymore, CDC doctors said in a 2001 report. Albany officials say there are so many ways to get fluoride that it’s completely unnecessary to add it to the drinking water. “There are sufficient other places where people can get fluoride. Toothpaste, mouthwash, you can even get tablets now,” said Albany Water Commissioner Robert Cross. “You can get it to those who need it instead of giving it to everybody. The decision has always been there’s no need for fluoride in the water.” But Schenectady dentists said the elimination of fluoridated water in their city would hurt the residents who can least afford to go to the dentist or buy their own sources of fluoride. “You’ve got to remember there’s a lot of people in the community who will, for a variety of reasons, never seek dental care,” said Schenectady dentist Dr. Peter Gold. “Fluoride reaches everyone who consumes the city’s drinking water, which is rich and poor.” Other dentists said the change would particularly hurt poor children, who often don’t go to a dentist unless they have serious tooth decay. They miss out on toothcleaning lessons and regular fluoride treatments, dentists said, and thus can’t afford to also lose the benefit of fluoridated water. In Schenectady, 3,400 children under the age of 12 were living in poverty during the 2000 census. Several Albany dentists who see children from both cities said they didn’t see a significant difference in cavities between Albany and Schenectady children, but they said they still wished their city’s water was fluoridated. “It is a valuable thing for the community. It makes the tooth more resistant to decay. Children are given fluoride to aid the developing teeth,” said Robin Shaw, a hygienist speaking for Rose Dental in Albany. The CDC also says that fluoridated water helps protect adult teeth when they have exposed roots. The agency’s 2001 report concluded by urging municipalities to continue the fluoridated water program even though fluoridated toothpaste has also reduced cavities significantly. “Community water fluoridation is a safe, effective, and inexpensive way to prevent dental [cavities],” the report read. “Fluoridated community drinking water and fluoride toothpaste are the most common sources of fluoride in the United States and are largely responsible for the low risk for dental [cavities] for most persons in this country.”
But Schenectady dentists said the elimination of fluoridated water in their city would hurt the residents who can least afford to go to the dentist or buy their own sources of fluoride.
I'm sure that they can afford tooth paste. And there are dental clinics available. I'm no expert, so I'm not suggesting whether we need floride in our water or not, but I don't think the decision should in part be based on the assumption that people would not be able to afford toothpaste with floride.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Hey, if the dentists are so worried about it, why don't they just give their people "free" toothpaste with flouride and bump up the prices on their bills to cover it?
Cost could send fluoride down drain Capital Region cities grappling with choice of paying more or dropping water additive endorsed by dentists
By CATHLEEN CROWLEY, Staff writer First published: Saturday, February 9, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- A California megalopolis' decision to add fluoride to its water supply is having an impact on several Capital Region communities, including Schenectady, which is considering dropping the additive due to rising prices. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves approximately 18 million people in the San Diego and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, began fluoridating in October.
But the whopping 12,000 tons of fluoride the system uses annually depleted U.S. supplies of the chemical and created a nationwide shortage, according to a major U.S. supplier. As a result, communities such as Fort Worth, Texas, and Needham, Mass., suspended fluoridation. Several Capital Region water districts have seen a modest increase in fluoride costs, and Schenectady's bill nearly doubled. "We have to evaluate whether the benefit is worth the expense," said Carl Olsen, Schenectady's commissioner of general services. "If it's demonstrated that the cost is worth the advantage, then obviously we'll continue." Schenectady's water works serves about 62,000 people in the city, parts of Niskayuna and Rotterdam and the bill for its 50 tons of fluoride has jumped $20,000 to $45,000 in 2008. Fluoride costs for Saratoga Springs, Troy and Guilderland have increased. Troy is spending $32,000 this year, about 17 percent higher than last year. Saratoga Springs spent $8,300 in 2007 and won't put out another order for fluoride until May. Albany doesn't add the chemical to its water supply. "It killed the whole stinkin' country," said Hal Turnbow, vice president of Thatcher Co., a Salt Lake City-based chemical distributor that supplies fluoride to Schenectady and other communities in New York state. "We've gone from a long position where we couldn't get rid of it fast enough, to now you can't find the stuff," Turnbow said. Robert Muir, spokesman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the district's fluoride costs increased 75 percent in less than a year. The total price tag was $3.6 million. "It's a very volatile market," Muir said. "We have experienced the cost increases along with the rest of the nation." In New York, roughly 180 public water systems fluoridate, and about 660 communities buy water from systems that add fluoride. But the use of fluoride is a controversial topic. The American Dental Association says fluoridation reduces cavities by 20 percent to 40 percent. But critics link fluoride to lower IQs, endocrine system problems, bone damage and fluorosis, a dental condition that causes white streaks and brown spots on teeth. Fluoride is a byproduct of the manufacturing process of phosphate fertilizer. Much of the nation's fertilizer comes from central Florida, said Tony Besthoff, owner of Faesy and Besthoff, a Connecticut chemical distributor that serves some New York communities. Fluoride occurs naturally in phosphate rock that is found 25 to 40 feet below the ground in what was once ocean. The fluorine gas created during the fertilizer manufacturing process used to be burned in smokestacks and released into the air, Besthoff said. When pollution laws were enacted, manufacturers began trapping the gas and converting it to fluoride. "Making the product is energy intensive and delivering it is energy intensive," Besthoff said.But despite the rising costs, at least one official feels the purported benefits of fluoride outweigh the costs -- at least so far. William West, Guilderland's water superintendent, budgeted $8,600 for fluoride, up from $6,500 last year. "My personal opinion, is that 8,500 town of Guilderland residences are getting something that hasn't been proven to be a health issue and is actually a benefit," West said. "It equates to a dollar a year per a household, which is very economical for fluoride treatment." F. Crowley can be reached at 454-5348, or by e-mail at ccrowley@timesunion.com. Fluoride use in the state In New York, roughly 180 public water systems fluoridate, and about 660 communities buy water from systems that add fluoride.
I say take the fluoride out of the drinking water. If they can produce gum with whitening and breath freshening agents, than I'm sure someone can come up with a gum or chewable tablets or something that has fluoride in it. There are many people out there who feel fluoride does more harm than good. So let the people decide.
Can someone tell me if bottled water has fluoride in it? Cause that is all I drink. Well that and filtered water from my frig. I don't remember the last time I actually drank tap water. OH...wait while I fix my dentures!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Cost-benefit analysis makes strong case for fluoridating water
Schenectady officials are thinking about discontinuing the use of fluoride in the city’s water supply because the price of the chemical has risen substantially in the last year and fluoride is so easily obtained elsewhere. Yes, but ... Fluoridating public water — even at the elevated cost of $45,000 a year — remains the most cost-effective way to keep people from getting cavities. That’s not just conventional wisdom talking, it’s what the American Dental Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the state Health Department say. And it’s especially true of children. Yes, people can keep from getting cavities by brushing their teeth with fluoridated toothpaste, which means just about any toothpaste nowadays. But that’s assuming they remember to brush their teeth, and do it properly, which kids don’t always do. And kids whose baby teeth haven’t erupted yet need the benefit of fluoridated water because they haven’t started brushing yet. And even though they may be brushing regularly, and properly, by the time their permanent teeth come in, topical application is still less effective than when they absorb the fluoride internally. Fluoridating water is also cheaper. If every man, woman and child in Schenectady had to spend $5 per year on toothpaste alone, it would cost nearly seven times what the city is spending to fluoridate its water. Then there are the dental costs: A single-surface filling costs nearly $100 nowadays. For that reason alone — because the county pays part of its Medicaid patients’ dental bills — Schenectady County should encourage the city to keep fluoridating its water. In fact, if county officials were smart, they’d offer to subsidize the fluoridation effort so their Medicaid dental bills don’t go up. (State Medicaid statistics from 2006 indicate that children visiting the dentist in Albany, where fluoride isn’t used, were roughly 50 percent more likely to need a filling than those in Schenectady.) The sad fact is that, even with Medicaid-furnished dental care, a lot of people don’t go to the dentist regularly. Some don’t even brush their teeth. Economics are part of the reason, at least with regard to the former, but no matter, fluoridated water provides both with an added layer of protection against cavities, dental disease, tooth loss and a lifetime of related problems for relatively little money.
Re Jan. 25 letter by Doug Faulisi Sr., “If fluoride is so safe, why is it being banned?” I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Mr. Faulisi’s letter regarding fluoride. Fluoridation of community water supplies is the single most effective public health measure to prevent dental decay. Throughout more than 60 years of research and practical experience, the preponderance of credible scientific evidence indicates that fluoridation of community water supplies is both safe and effective. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proclaimed community water fluoridation (along with vaccinations and infectious disease control) as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. Of the thousands of credible scientific studies on fluoridation, none has shown health problems associated with the consumption of optimally fluoridated water. I do agree with Mr. Faulisi that money does influence a great deal of research. In fact, it does play a role in the debate over fluoridation, as fluoridation is a community public health measure that undeniably saves money. For most cities, every dollar invested in water fluoridation saves $38 in dental treatment costs. With the escalating cost of health care, fluoridation remains a preventive measure that benefits persons of all socioeconomic statuses at minimal cost. Finally, I ask skeptics and opponents of fluoridation to consider this: What financial incentives exist for dentists to promote measures that minimize tooth decay? In a word — none! Without tooth decay, which fluoridation undeniably reduces, many dentists would be out of a job. The fact is that we, as educated professionals who have critically evaluated the literature on water fluoridation, strongly believe it is in the best interest of our patients to fluoridate community water supplies in an effort to reduce the prevalence of dental disease. MICHAEL K. DELUKE Niskayuna The writer is president of the Schenectady County Dental Society.
They better keep the fluoride in the water---Dental insurance cost a fortune and companies dont care if you have your own teeth or nicely molded ones.....I just pay as I go.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Fluoride just one of many supplements worthy of public water
I am disheartened that Schenectady is considering the removal of fluoride from its municipal drinking water. According to your Feb. 8 article, adding fluoride to Schenectady’s water costs the city only $45,000 per year. That small investment is all it takes to provide this important benefit that may potentially result in modestly fewer cavities among a small subset of Schenectady’s population. In fact, if Schenectady really wants to show visionary leadership, it should consider a whole variety of cost-effective supplements to municipal water supplies. For example, many senior citizens take low-dose aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke. However, seniors on a fixed income may not be able to afford this luxury. The Centers for Disease Control recommends pregnant women consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to prevent birth defects. Of course, not all pregnant women are empowered with this knowledge. Adding cholesterol-lowering statins could make Schenectady the city with the best heart health in the country! And why not Viagra in the water supply for good measure? Yes, Schenectady could make an unparalleled commitment to the health of its residents, one drinking- water supplement at a time! KYLE LAWRENCE Galway
Discontinuing the fluoridation of water would be unwise BY EDWIN D. REILLY JR. For the Sunday Gazette
Gen. Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don’t think I do, sir, no. Gen. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist subversion and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. . . . Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, there are studies under way to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk . .. ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children’s ice cream! Mandrake: Lord, Jack. Gen. Ripper: It’s incredibly obvious, isn’t it? Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face. — From the fi lm “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”
“Dr. Strangelove” is certainly one of my favorite movies, but I don’t know whether to classify it as a comedy or a tragedy. Whatever, I couldn’t help but recall the famous dialogue quoted when I read with astonishment that Schenectady is considering abandoning the fluoridation of water. Not because of fear of communists or al-Qaida, of course, but because it costs about 75 cents per year per resident to do so. The very thought has prompted several Gazette letters and a cartoon already, but I haven’t yet seen a discussion of the implications to the other county municipalities that buy water from the city. Niskayuna, for example, buys more water from the city than it can comfortably pump from its own wells. So, as Gazette columnist Carl Strock would say, today I hied myself up to town hall to refresh my memory of certain details about our water supply system. I had a nice chat with new Supervisor Joe Landry, and just before that, a more technical one with superintendent of Engineering Rich Pollock, son of the late GE R&D scientist Herb Pollock, whom many readers will remember. CORRECT DOSE Right now, imported city water arrives with the proper dose of fluorides, about one part per million in accord with a standard first proposed by Edward L. Bernays (1891-1995) in 1946. Similarly, water pumped from Niskayuna wells is fed the same dosage. Some parts of the town receive the city water, some receive the Niskayuna water, but most of the town receives a blended mixture. If the city stops fluoridating and Niskayuna and Rotterdam want to continue fluoridating to the standard level needed to protect our children’s teeth, they will have to build a possibly costly interchange system that will intercept and treat the city water before it is blended with its own. I would hope that the temptation to take the simpler approach of abandoning fluoridation itself would be rejected. Now, consider the economics of water production. A city such as Schenectady may operate its water system at a “profi t,” which can legally be used to augment general municipal revenues. Towns such as Niskayuna, Glenville and Rotterdam that operate water systems cannot — state auditors make sure that their water rates generate no revenue in excess of the actual cost of operations. If the city remains concerned about the rising cost of fluoride, then all it need do is, at the next contract renewal with each client, raise the price by, I estimate, one or two cents per thousand gallons, about 1 percent. (Glenville does not have to buy city water.) OPPOSITION VOICE After taking a break from the keyboard to check primary results just after writing the above, I happened to surf to Channel 16 and — whoa! As it is wont to do (First Amendment, you know), SACC-TV was giving airtime to yet another conspiratorialist “documentary,” this one hosted by narrator Christopher Bryson. Boy, did he give it to old Ed Bernays. Seems that that fellow was the nephew of Sigmund Freud. And before Bryson turned full force on the evils of fluoridation, he even took time to ridicule that classic exchange between Gen. Ripper and Group Captain Mandrake with which I began this essay. Well, there are reasons to be concerned about fluoridation. One is just the standard libertarian belief that government should not be trying to tell us what is good for us, or what they think might be good for us. Right away I had a hunch that Ron Paul must oppose fluoridation and, sure enough, a check of his Web site indicates that he does. Other opponents feel that they must deny the efficacy of fluoride in reducing dental caries that ultimately lead to cavities. After all, there is very little fluoridation in Western Europe, and all but the English seem to still have teeth. But the scientific evidence in support of the ability of fluoridation to reduce caries is overwhelming. CANCER RISK OR BLOG POLLUTION? The remaining concern, then, is the possible side effect. Does fluoridation cause cancer? Does it reduce the IQ of children? (Oh dear, we all know how dumb Niskayuna children are.) All these claims and many more pollute the blogosphere. It is tempting to write that our bodies are just bags of chemicals. OK, take out that “just”; surely the chemicals combine into molecules that combine into the miraculous structures that make us conscious, sentient, thinking, humans. Interestingly, 70 percent of our bodies consist of the very substance to which additional fluoride is often added — H2O, or water. That means that of the approximately 60 elements (of the naturally occurring 92) from which our bodies are built, oxygen is the most common and hydrogen is third, with carbon in between. Then come nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and potassium, all of which we have been educated to know as beneficial. But next come sulfur, chlorine and sodium, which give us pause. Sulfur doesn’t smell very good. (And H2SO4, shaken, but not stirred, can break a chemical Bond. ) Pure sodium and chlorine are the most potently dangerous elements of the 92, but when combined they produce a big flash and what remains is — table salt! Well, too much of that gives you high blood pressure. Go easy. Now, are you ready for this? The 13th most common element in “us” is — fluorine! But despite that rank, fluorine was the last of the body’s elements to be identified. It was fi rst isolated from its compounds in 1886 by the French chemist Frederick Henri Moissan (1852-1907), who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery. Pure fluorine at room temperature is a gas, but inside us, it is bound into solid fluorides and distributed throughout the body in ways that do little or nothing to harden our teeth. But if it were liberated, cooled, liquefied, and kept at a temperature just below its boiling point, the mass would be the size of a cube about a half-inch on a side. Some bouillon cube! Rubidium, 16th in rank by weight, is the most abundant element in the body that has no known biological role. Vanadium, 54th, is the body’s least abundant element that does have a biologic role, followed by cobalt, 39th, the latter being a constituent of Vitamin B-12. Oh, we have copper, gold and silver in us too, all put to good use on our behalf. I owe all of these insights to Ed Uthman, M.D., of Houston, Texas. Google him for confirmation. Dragging this information out of him was much easier than pulling the teeth of those unfortunates who live in communities that refuse to fluoridate. The closest one is Albany.
The question isn’t fluoride or no fluoride, but in what doses?
This will support the continued fluoridation of water in Schenectady as advocated by Edwin D. Reilly, Jr., in his Feb. 17 Viewpoint: “Discontinuing the fluoridation of water would be unwise.” Toward the end of his article, Mr. Reilly cited opposition to fluoridation because of fears by some people of various toxic effects. As far as I can discover, the citizens of Schenectady have been drinking fluoridated water for a long, long time with no ill effects seen. If the dangers of fl uoridation are as dire as are being claimed, there should be large-scale evidence of such effects by now. I suspect that part of the fear of fluoridation comes from the fact that sodium fluoride, commonly used to fluoridate drinking water, is a poison. Anything that is a poison has no business being in a public water supply, the thinking goes. This is simplistic thinking, for it is well known that an overdose of many beneficial medications can be fatal. But when very small doses of a poison are administered, there is no effect. Increasing the dose also shows no effect until some critical threshold is reached when toxicity starts to become evident. Increasing the dose above this threshold value increases the toxic effect, with the severity of the effect getting larger as the dose is increased. The fact that no adverse health effects attributed to fluoridation have been seen in Schenectady informs us that the amount of agent being used is well below this threshold level, regardless of its toxicity in large doses. ALMY D. COGGESHALL Niskayuna
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