Albuquerque, New Mexico Will NOT Be Adding Fluoride To Water Supply
Albuquerque, New Mexico will continue to maintain a fluoride-free water supply after the local water authority voted to remove funding for water fluoridation for the fiscal year 2017.
On Wednesday May 18, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority voted to remove proposed funding for water fluoridation from the utility’s 2017 budget. The Water Utility Authority had originally recommended spending $250,000 to add extra fluoride into the water supply to help the county reach federally recommended levels of fluoride. Bernalillo County’s supply is at 0.3 parts per million while the federal government recommends .7 parts per million.
Only weeks ago Hart Stebbins, a Bernalillo County commissioner, introduced a measure that would have required the water authority to add fluoride to the water supply to a level of 0.7 parts per million. However, on May 18, the board opted not to vote on the measure, effectively ending the bid for water fluoridation.
“Adding supplemental fluoride to the drinking supply is one way to help insure that community oral health is improved,” said David Morris, with the water authority, said days before the board ultimately decided not to take up the resolution.
Albuquerque became the largest city not to add fluoride to the water supply in 2011 when the water authority said they would wait until federal guidelines were updated in 2015. The decision ended a 39-year practice of water fluoridation for the Bernalillo County.
Although water fluoridation will not return to the county, the Albuquerque Journal reports that the board did approve a measure which “asks the New Mexico Congressional delegation to request expedited action on the final recommendations.” Supporters of water fluoridation were dismayed by the non vote and called for the board to vote on the issue once new guidelines are issued.
“The disappointing thing is that they have the science in front of them,” said Dr. Ron Romero, an Albuquerque dentist. “It’s not totally over yet. It allows more time for the education of policy makers.”
So what does the science say about water fluoridation and what the heck IS fluoride?
The substances added to municipal water supplies known by the name fluoride are actually a combination of unpurified by-products of phosphate mining, namely hydrofluorosilicic acid, sodium fluorosilicate, and sodium fluoride. In the United States, thousands of tons of fluorosilicic acid is recovered from phosphoric acid plants and then used for water fluoridation. During this process the fluoride ion is created.
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