The proposal to add fluoride to drinking water supplied to Portland has managed to split the city into two 'debating' halves.
While one group strongly supports the addition of fluoride to drinking water –– claiming that it may help improve the dental health of children –– the other group objects to the addition of chlorine claiming that the drinking water should be devoid of any chemical additions.
With campaigns signs adorning various parts of the city, Portland is a sight to behold!
The decision is due on Tuesday, May 21, and each group has arrived with a huge amount of data to support their argument.
While addition of fluoride to water has been a topic of debate for long, and not just in Portland, but many other places in the world, this particular debate has managed to rock the socks of the nation, grabbing the interest of media worldwide.
"This issue has brought together people who distrust government, folks that distrust industry and folks that are rabidly passionate about environmental causes," Mike Plunkett, a dentist who backs fluoridation, said. "And those are very strange bedfellows."
With around three-fourths of the US population drinking fluoridated water; this debate seems far-fetched and unnecessary. While liberals still claim that there should be no addition of any chemical substance to drinking water sources and that adding fluoride into the water would violate an individual's right to consent of medicine, most health organizations consider fluoride use as safe.
In fact, the federal Centers for Disease Control has listed fluoride addition to water as one of the greatest health achievements of the 20th century.
Yet, opponents claim that the dental health benefits observed with this addition of fluoride is relatively small, and people suffering from kidney disease, thyroid problems and chemical sensitivity worry that their lives may become much more difficult after this addition.
"I do think that the science changes before policy, and eventually this is going to be an outdated, antique policy," Kellie Barnes, a physical therapist and anti-fluoridation activist, said.
"It's not one IQ study or one bone-cancer study," she added. "But the emerging science, when taken in bulk, is showing there's a reasonable basis for concern. We're not saying: 'Oh, it's conclusive.'"
With 21 percent of children in Portland suffering from dental decay and tooth problems, fluoridation of water may be a boon. Health organizations and political leaders of the city stress that this effort would help solve the city's dental crisis, especially among those children who are poverty-stricken, and don't have access to proper dental treatments and lack awareness about proper nutrition and good dental hygiene.
Guess we'll just have to wait and watch until the May 21 to know the outcome.
