Fluoridated Water In Portland
Fluoride is “a compound that is composed of fluorine and another element(s)”, such as sodium fluoride, NaF, or Methyl Fluoride, CH3F. Fluorine is capable of bonding with many other elements except the noble gases. Many communities are adding hydrofluoric acid salts to their drinking water because it has been shown that they are effective at preventing tooth decay. According to Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., fluoride helps teeth by contributing to the amount of minerals in the saliva, in which salvia re-enemalizes the teeth when the minerals come into contact with them. However, Helmenstine also notes that fluoridating water has not been proven yet to help this process. On September 12, 2012, the elected officials of the City of Portland Oregon have decided to approve adding a mineral called fluoride into the drinking water of the city. The cities commissioners are being heavily criticized this action. Many citizens of this city feel that this action is unethical because they should have a right of say what they put into their bodies. Despite this sentiment, the city’s council is claiming that the children in Portland are suffering from not having enough fluoride in the water, and that fluoride would help the city’s poorest children from tooth decay (Dubois). However this case maybe, Portland’s city council should not have taken matters into their own hands. Drugging Portland’s water is not the answer to solving the city’s dental problems and will cause more harm than good.
One of the points that the proponents make is that more children miss out on school due to dental health. In fact, 7% of all the students ages 5-17 of California have missed at least 1 day because of dental health issue, with 40% of them missing more than one day (Pourat and Nicholson 1). According to researchers at UCLA, that 73% of the children who reported that they missed 2 or more days of school are in need of dental care (Pourat and Nicholson 2). This makes for approximately 874,000 total school days lost due to poor dental health (Pourat and Nicholson 1). According to the researchers, because schools receive $34 per day for student attendance, poor dental health is costing approximately 28.8 million dollars per year (Pourat and Nicholson 5). According to data about the 2006-2007 attendance, Portland Public School District reported having 95.1 on average daily attendance. Portland schools are doing much better respectively than that of Californian schools in which the water is fluoridated.
However as many days that children miss school, the effects of fluoridation would be how it can affect our intelligence. There have been 41 studies done that show that areas with high amounts of fluoride in the water are showing lower IQ test scores than the IQ test scores in areas with low fluoride concentrations in their water supply. The most recent study, from the partnership of Harvard University's research scientist Anna L. Choi and professor Philippe Grandjean with medical researchers Guifan Sun and Ying Zhang of China Medical University, found a positive correlation that areas with high levels of fluoride in their drinking water are having neurotoxicity. The toxicity is effecting children performance on IQ tests. The medical researchers claims that "the results suggest that fluoride may be a developmental neurotoxicant that affects brain development at exposures much below those that can cause toxicity in adults." This basically states that children are more affected by exposure to fluoride than adults. (Freeman)
According to Dr. Paul Connett Ph.D., Fluoridating our water supply would be a bad idea. There are only 5 other countries besides the United States that fluoridate water: Ireland, Spain, Poland, Serbia, and the United Kingdoms. This means that 97% of the world does not fluoridate its water. In some countries, such as China and India, fluoride
