Officials with the cities of Port Angeles and Forks expect they would have to lower the amount of fluoride introduced into municipal drinking water if new proposed guidelines are adopted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The proposal calls for setting the recommended dosage of 0.7 parts per million rather than the range of 0.7 to 1.2 parts per million.
Port Angeles and Forks, the only cities on the North Olympic Peninsula that use fluoridated drinking water, use 1 part per million.
Both cities said they are regulated by the state Department of Health and that they expect to follow whatever guidelines the federal agency sets.
Rod Fleck, Forks city attorney and planner, said he doesn’t expect a problem with a lower threshold.
“We’ll just make the shift over,” he said.
Glenn Cutler, Port Angeles city public works and utilities director, said new equipment may be needed if there are penalties for missing the mark.
He said it’s difficult to get exactly the same amount of fluoride in each cup of water because the city’s water use is never constant.
“If it’s going to be exactly 0.7 parts per million and no variations, that’s like driving the roadway and keeping exactly that speed,” Cutler said. “Is anything that exact?”
The federal health department is considering the change due to a recent government study that found two out of five adolescents have tooth streaking or spotting because they are receiving too much fluoride.
The problem has been attributed to people using products with fluoride, such as some toothpastes, on top of drinking water with fluoride in it.
Dr. Eloise Kailin, a Sequim-area resident representing anti-fluoride activists in Clallam County, called the proposal a “step in the right direction.”
“It recognizes that there is harm to people from what we’ve been doing,” she said.
“There’s no longer any excuse for saying we have to add it to the water,” Kailin added. “We have too much in the population already.”
Too much fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, can raise the risk of broken bones.
A National Academy of Sciences report from 2006 said such health risks can be caused by a lifetime of drinking fluoride at amounts of over 4 parts per million.
Port Angeles has used fluoride since 2006, while Forks has been using it for about 58 years.
Three groups — Clallam County Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, Our Water-Our Choice! and Protect Our Waters — have been fighting fluoridation in Port Angeles since it was introduced in the city.
Last year, the state Supreme Court sided with the city in a suit filed by Our Water-Our Choice! and Protect Our Waters. The two groups sought to have fluoridation stopped through the ballot box, but the state high court ruled 5-4 that the practice is administrative in nature and can’t be challenged through initiatives.
The groups sought to have the ruling revisited, but the court ruled late last month it wasn’t going to reconsider the matter.
Kailin is spokeswoman for the three groups.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
