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Water:
Mandatory Fluoridation
Our Position: oppose
Bill Number: HB 3099 & SB 33
Sponsor: Referred from the interim committee on Public Health
Legislative Session: 2007
HB 3099, and its earlier counterpart SB 33, would have required the mandatory fluoridation of municipal water supplies that serve over 10,000 people. Currently, many larger towns in Oregon including Portland and Eugene do not fluoridate water supplies and some have even voted against such requirements in the past.
Status
The Senate version of this bill, SB 33, died without a hearing on April 30 because of a lack of votes in support. HB 3099 was sent to the House floor with 'no recommendation' from its originating committee. It stalled on the House floor without enough votes to pass and was instead referred to the Ways and Means Committee. Proponents made a last ditch effort to develop amendments to be able to get enough support to move the bill, but their efforts failed and the bill died.
The draft amendments would have required mandatory fluoridation and forced cities to hold an election in 2008 if they wanted to opt out of the statewide mandate. The bill contained the ballot language that cities would have had to use, which was biased in favor of fluoridation. If cities didn't hold an election on the issue, mandatory fluoridation of municipal water supplies would have ensued. Cities would not have been allowed to reverse this based on new scientific information of the kind that has recently been mounting regarding health risks associated with excessive fluoride consumption.
Contact
For more information, please contact Ivan Maluski at 503-238-0442, x304 or ivan.maluski@sierraclub.org
Background
The Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter has taken a position opposing mandatory fluoridation of water supplies due to potential negative impacts on public health and fish populations. A recent science review from the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council identified numerous areas where more research is needed on fluoride's role in several human ailments, recommending that the Environmental Protection Agency lower its threshold for what is considered an acceptable level of fluoride in drinking water. This study also prompted the American Dental Association to issue a recommendation that infant formula should not be mixed with fluoridated water, which was followed by a similar warning from the Oregon Department of Health.
This new information also led Senator Alan Bates (D-Ashland) and Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham), the legislature's only doctor and nurse respectively, to oppose these bills.
Given legitimate questions being raised about the efficacy of fluoridating drinking water and potential risks identified by the National Academy of Sciences, coupled with the fact that most fluoride used in municipal water supplies is a waste byproduct of the fertilizer industry and can contain trace amounts of other heavy metals and toxins, the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club opposed SB 33 and HB 3099. We were happy to see a majority in the legislature agree, which prevented the bills from facing controversial floor votes.
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