Fluoride in Mount Pleasant water system raises concern

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.”