On September 14th, residents in Manchester, Hooksett, Goffstown, Bedford and Londonderry will vote on whether to continue adding fluoride to their water. It will be the second time Manchester has voted on the issue, and the first time for the other communities. The upcoming referendum has also provided a new forum for those on either side of the fluoride debate. For them, the question of whether or not to fluoridate couldn’t be clearer. But as New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Kaufman reports, the rest of population is a bit murkier on just what comes out of the tap.
Track 1 :24 so here we are at the tap…(sound of water)
Republican State Representative Barbara Hagan stands in the kitchen of her Manchester home next to a big jug of store bought Poland Spring water.
It’s the water she gives to her seven children. It’s the water she uses to make the rice and the lemonade.
It’s even the water the family dogs drinks.
Track 1 :00 (sound of ice cubes) ice cubes I also make with the un-fluoridated water, because they melt into the water and if you go through the problems of getting your water without fluoride you kind of defeat the purpose…
Hagan says the city should not be adding fluoride to something she and her family need for survival.
Track 5 :25 the fluoride being added to the water is a medication and in my mind I should have control over my body and what my children ingest…public health officials have no right to say he is going to add something to the water that may aversely effect my health
Hagan also points out that fluoride contains toxins, like lead and arsenic.
City health officials flatly deny that those very small amounts of toxic metals pose any health risk…quite the opposite, they say fluoride is a boon.
Fred Rusczek is the health director for the city of Manchester.
Track 1 :fluoridation is one of the issues where there is no doubt, no doubt, 162 million Americans, over 14,000 communities utilize fluoridated water every day, and its considered one of the top ten public health achievements of the last century
The battle lines are drawn and the opposing groups have enlisted their allies.
On the anti-side are Barbara Hagan and several others.
They formed the Greater Manchester Safe Drinking Water Association.
The small group will be going up against public health officials, dentists and pediatricians, who overwhelmingly favor fluoride treatment.
Stacy Plourd, a dental hygienist and Hooksett resident has taken up the banner on their behalf.
She says the biggest health risk concerning fluoride is a lack of it.
Track 1 1:18 I have patients that have grown up in other parts of the country, sit in my dental chair and I’ll say you didn’t grow up around here and they say why is that, and I’ll say because you don’t have any fillings, and I’ll say did you grow up somewhere that fluoridates their water and they’ll say yes
Plourd says she thinks most Hooksett residents understand the benefits of fluoride…preventing tooth decay and cavities.
A concern for her is that people don’t understand the pending vote.
Track 2 :15 I think most people don’t realize that they are able to vote again in September, that’s where the confusion is coming, some will say isn’t it just Manchester voting or why are we voting its just Manchester’s water, there’s a lot of misinformation on why the surrounding towns are voting
It’s not surprising that some might be confused.
By a slim margin, Manchester residents voted in favor of fluoridating their city water supply five years ago.
And the city has been doing so since 2000.
The only problem was that residents from the 6 other towns that also get water from Manchester never voted.
After a handful of residents from those towns filed a lawsuit, the state supreme court ruled that Manchester must receive approval from the other communities.
Now all towns that have more than 100 hookups with Manchester Water Works will vote on the fluoride question on September 14th.
That excludes Derry and Auburn…but includes Manchester, of course, Hooksett, Goffstown, Londonderry and Bedford.
sound of Bedford parking lot…track 9 1:30…..
In the parking lot of Super Stop n’ Shop in Bedford, people did some last minute shopping before running off to dinner.
But many had time to talk about a subject that probably doesn’t come up around the dinner table very often: what they know…or don’t know…about their water.
Track 3 :04 I have no idea, I don’t know if it does or doesn’t, I guess I’d like to see it in there…
Track 1: 5:28 we have a dentist appointment next week, we were going to bring Connor, and we don’t know enough about it, trying to do research
Track 5 1:37 I don’t know, I don’t know if I would have a problem with it, I know I’m on a well so I don’t have to worry about it…
Track 8 :25 :that’s a really good question because now that I have a baby people have mentioned it, I have no clue, no clue, I guess it’s good to have it in the water, I don’t know do we, do we have it?
The situation is even more complicated than which towns vote and which don’t, or whether you want fluoride or you don’t.
Within each town, some people get their water from Manchester, and some do not.
And if they don’t get it from Manchester, the water doesn’t have fluoride, and won’t even if the measure passes.
But even those residents are allowed to vote on the question.
Dental hygienist Stacy Plourd says that makes sense to her.
Track 5 3:11 it does effect you, any businesses you go to that has their water, two of the schools in our town receive water from Manchester, if you send your kids to high school in Manchester, they will have the water from Manchester, it may not directly effect you at your house but it does have an effect
Plourd supports fluoridation.
But her argument that it will have an effect on everyone, both in the home and out, is just the reason why those who oppose fluoridation want the measure denied.
A majority of voters will determine whether that happens or not.
Whatever the outcome, anyone can go to the grocery store…those who oppose fluoride can buy their water, bottled at the spring and untreated. And those who worry that they aren’t getting enough can buy special mouth wash with a fluoride supplement.
But its likely that most people will be happy with their water straight from the tap.
For NHPR news, I’m RK
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