Like many cities in Michigan, Mount Pleasant residents drink and use fluoridated
water.
But some city residents feel that the city’s water is unsafe due to its fluoride
content.
Alan Gamble, life science professor at Mid-Michigan Community College, said people
should be afraid to drink city water because fluoride tests have been done in
Mount Pleasant.
“There’s an enormous amount of evidence that calls into question the
widely held assumption that fluoride is perfectly safe in the amounts that we’re
getting now.”
Gamble said studies, like the ones conducted by The Ecologist, Sept. 2000; the
Earth Island Journal, winter 1997-98; and the Christian Science Monitor point
to possible dangers of fluoridation.
But residents like Gamble have yet to convince city officials of their claims.
“We’ve had several city referendums on this,” said Malcolm Fox,
Mount Pleasant’s water treatment plant superintendent; the mandates of those
referendums are to maintain fluoridation.
Fox said fluoride has been used in the water since the early ’60s.
Central Michigan Citizens Opposed to Water Fluoridation sued the city this summer
because members said they could not drink the water. Fox said they wanted the
city to pay for bottled water for them.
In August, the case was dismissed but the debate continues.
“We are interested and concerned that our water is safe,” Fox said.
Fox said the plant does follow the scientific community’s research on the
issue.
If information contrary to what the plant is doing is presented, he said, the
plant would change accordingly.
Fox said the plant adheres to recommended procedures made by the Center for Disease
Control, the American Water Works Association and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
“Locally, the EPA guidance comes through the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality,” he said. “They carry out the EPA’s directives on a local
level.”
The fluoride used in Mount Pleasant’s water is hydrofluosilicic acid.
“It’s waste product from the manufacturing of phosphate fertilizer,”
said Calvin Tormanen, chemistry professor. “The public in general doesn’t
know that.”
Fox said hydrofluosilicic acid is used because it comes in liquid form and it’s
easy to transport.
The plant’s methods were reviewed by the MDEQ this spring, Fox said, and,
“Their evaluation showed that we were doing everything correctly.
“Without good quality tap water you have a hard time staying healthy,”
Fox said.
“We’re concerned,” he said. “If there’s a problem, we
want to know about it.”
Fox said Mount Pleasant’s plant bases its decisions on studies, which are
peer-reviewed by other scientists. Studies presented by the side opposing water
fluoridation have yet to be reviewed, he said.
Gamble said his concerns with fluoridation not only include drinking the water,
but also skin exposure to it.
There is always this assumption that people are only getting fluoride topically
and internally, Gamble said.
But according to George Glasser of The Ecologist, 64 to 91 percent of exposure
to water-borne contaminants occurs via dermal absorption and no studies have ever
been done to determine the toxicity of fluoride used in water fluoridation, he
said.
“It’s something that gradually builds up in the system,” Gamble
said.
Fluoride doesn’t just affect the teeth, he said, it also interferes with
enzymes and makes bones brittle.
Anybody who questions this is looked on as a “quack” or a “conspiracy
theorist,” Gamble said.
“We’re not saying you should be against fluoride, but you should look
into the evidence on both sides.
“People who have tried to publish studies on fluoride get fired,” Gamble
said, citing Phyllis Mullinex, head of toxicology at Forsythes who did a study
on the effect of fluoride on rats.
The study indicated that rats treated with fluoride had a lower IQ and all of
Mullinex’s funding was pulled, Gamble said.
Gamble wants the City to keep a file resource on the pros and cons of water fluoridation
to allow residents to make educated decisions.
“It’s extremely controversial and it should be,” Tormanen said.
He said the general public isn’t as concerned about fluoride in the water
because residents are not very informed about it. People need to educate themselves
on the issue instead of just believing what the government says.
“It’s up to the average person to decide what’s right,” Tormanen
said.
“We know that our water is as good as any city in Michigan,” Fox said.
Fox said he believes tap water treatment in Mount Pleasant makes the water even
better than bottled water and “1,000 times cheaper.”

E-mail the author: Dorothy BourdetLIFE Staff Writer