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San Diego Reconsiders Fluoridation

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published June 10, 2008 at 3:54 PM PDT
This story was published more than 15 years ago.

After decades of resisting adding fluoride to the water supply, San Diego city council members found themselves in a position where they could no longer say “no.” KPBS reporter Alison St John has mo

San Diego Reconsiders Fluoridation

 After decades of resisting adding fluoride to the water supply, San Diego city council members found themselves in a position where they could no longer say “no.” KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

 
San Diego is one of the last big U.S. city not to add fluoride to its water supply. Public opposition has been strong, with initiatives rejecting it in the 50s and 60s  and the municipal code forbids council for using taxpayer funds to pay for it..

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But under a 1995 California Law, all major water agencies have to add fluoride. San Diego was only exempted because it didn’t have the money to pay for it.

But then the  First Five Commission, which allocates tobacco tax money, offered the city $3.9 million  to do it. County Supervisor Ron Roberts is the chair.

Roberts: Dental disease is the most common and preventable disease in infants and young children in San Diego county. Fluoridation is a safe and effective method in effecting dental disease.

  A parade of eminent dentists and doctors testified to the efficacy of fluorid. But dozens of citizens remain unconvinced. Karen King cited American Dental Association research to the contrary.

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King:  If you vote to accept the funds you will be voting to overdose most of the San Diego children who are under the age of six fluoride drug should not be given to children under six months of age

  Councilwoman Donna Frye suggested worried citizens lobby the state legislature but she said the Commission’s gift left the council in a tight spot. 

Frye: I do n’t think we have a choice but to accept it.An offer has been made, the exemption has been removed, the law seems very clear.

  The money will pay for the capital costs and two years of operating fluoridation. That leaves open the question of whether public money can be used to continue the program in the long term.

Jeff Green who heads up the national opposition to fluoridation, Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, is based in San Diego.  

  Green  : Expect that if you make this determination that there’s going to be a challenge

But the tide may have already turned on fluoridation. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California began fluoridating its water last year and MWD provides about 10% of the city’s supply already.  Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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