Pasco fluoride debate risks children’s health and safety | Editorial

The Pasco City Council is on the verge of making a terrible public health mistake.

Five of the seven council members want to remove fluoride from the city’s drinking water. That would harm children’s dental health and put Pasco at odds with the overwhelming medical consensus that fluoride safely prevents cavities.

The issue emerged unexpectedly earlier this month when Councilman Leo Perales brought it up to his colleagues. He and some of his colleagues wanted to move swiftly. They hoped to vote within a few weeks without opportunity for public debate or serious analysis.

Interim City Manager Dave Zabell wisely cautioned against action without a staff report and public hearing. Those should be forthcoming in July.

It would have been legislative arrogance of the highest order to proceed without giving the public a chance to weigh in. It’s not like this is an emergency that must be dealt with in haste.

Pasco has added fluoride to the water for 25 years. A 2024 water quality report measured fluoride at 0.64 parts per million. That’s about the optimal level to maximize dental health benefits without coming close to overexposure.

Widespread water fluoridation is one of the great health triumphs of the past century.

Fluoride improves tooth enamel, making teeth more resistant to cavities and decay. That’s especially important for children who are still growing and often don’t have the best oral health habits. People who live in communities with fluoridated water experience about 25% fewer cavities than those in communities without it.

A recent study by researchers from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that if America stopped putting fluoride in public water, children would experience 25 million more cavities and cases of total tooth decay over five years.

Addressing that oral health calamity would cost $10 billion.

Children from low-income families would be hardest hit. On the other hand, if every community nationwide had optimal fluoride levels, it would save 22 million teeth and $9 billion.

The numbers won’t be quite as striking in Pasco, but preventing one in four cavities is no small thing, especially for low-income families that do not have regular access to dental care. Fluoridation costs the city about $50,000 annually. That is pennies compared to the savings in preventable dental bills.

Decades of peer-reviewed research confirm fluoride’s benefits and safety. The American Dental Association calls it “one of the safest ways we can prevent cavities for children and adults.”

Oral health is important not just because cavities are painful and require costly drilling and filling, but also because poor oral health can lead to other health problems, including increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and respiratory infections.

Pasco is the only city in the Tri-Cities to fluoridate its water. West Richland does not add fluoride because the mineral occurs naturally at high levels in its water supply. Kennewick and Richland do not fluoridate.

Rather than move backward, Pasco should be an exemplar and champion that encourages the rest of the region to catch up.

If the Pasco City Council removes fluoride, it might come to regret that decision. The Canadian city of Calgary stopped adding fluoride in 2011. Cavities and tooth decay increased precipitously. As a result, voters in the city overwhelmingly supported reintroducing fluoride, which is happening this year.

Fluoride skepticism, despite being contrary to all available scientific evidence, is having a moment. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opposes fluoridation and would have the federal government remove its endorsement of the practice.

This isn’t the first time Pasco has considered removing fluoride. When the council considered the idea eight years ago, the public response was overwhelmingly against the idea.

City residents should turn out again in the name of protecting public health. Write to council members and speak out at a public hearing.

Tell the council to prioritize the long-term health and financial well-being of residents, particularly children, over unsubstantiated fears.