Let’s remember when Seattle began fluoridating its water, which happened on this day in 1970 (January 12)
It has been almost 50 years for Seattle (and much longer for some communities) and the science of whether or not fluoridated water reduces tooth decay is still unsettled. Still, the Center for Disease Control and American Dental Association believe water fluoridation has been instrumental in reducing tooth decay over the past several decades.
Seattle began fluoridation in 1970, after it was approved by voters in 1968, and succeeded on its third attempt on the ballot. As HistoryLink notes (and I’ll quote at length because it’s important):
The early push for fluoridation reached Seattle in 1951, when the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health asked the city council to treat city drinking water with fluoride to combat tooth decay in children. The proposal faced fierce opposition and the council sent the fluoridation question to voters, who overwhelmingly rejected it in March 1952. A second fluoridation measure, in March 1963, was also rejected, although by a smaller margin.
Fluoridation surfaced once again on the city council’s agenda in 1968. Proponents of fluoridation included the State Health Department, dental associations, and a group of women called Mothers for Fluoridation. On April 8, 1968, the mothers group presented Council President Floyd C. Miller (1902–1985) with a petition bearing approximately 3,500 signatures requesting that the city’s water be “adjusted to contain one part fluoride for every million parts of water.”
In presenting the petition, Patricia Schultz said that, based on State Health Department statistics, parents would save between $700,000 and $1 million per year in dentist bills as a result of fluoridation. Dr. Olin Hoffman, head of the State Health Department’s Dental-Health Section, described fluoridation as “one of the greatest public-health measures of all time” (“Fluoridation Battle Looms …”). One of the key arguments put forth by those in favor of fluoridation was that underprivileged and low-income families could not afford proper dental care for their children, so voluntary fluoridation, such as drops, tablets, or vitamin-additives, was out of the question. Fluoridation of the city’s water would therefore be of great benefit to the poor.
Local opponents of fluoridation, such as the Pure Water Association, headed by Seattle physician Dr. Eugene McElmeel, which had led the opposition to the 1963 fluoridation measure, were equally active. They dismissed Health Department estimates of benefits as inaccurate and warned of health hazards, such as mottled teeth, illness, or even death from fluoride consumption. Opponents also raised the prospect of mass medication, asserting that fluoridation would force a medical treatment upon those did not want it for religious or other reasons. Dr. McElmeel presented the council with a letter from the president of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) suggesting that water fluoridation, like compulsory vaccination, would violate citizens’ rights.
A public hearing on the fluoridation issue took place on June 28, 1968, after which the city council voted 5 to 4 to fluoridate Seattle’s water. Existing laws granted state and local officials the power to compel fluoridation without first seeking a public referendum. However, according to the city charter, opponents had 30 days following the council’s vote to gather sufficient signatures (approximately 14,000) to put the question to a public referendum. Ultimately, on July 22, 1968, the city council decided, with two members switching position, to let water-users, at least those who resided within the city, decide the fluoridation issue, by referring the matter to city voters. (Although the Seattle water department supplied, and would fluoridate, the water used in many surrounding jurisdictions, only Seattle residents voted on the measure.)
On November 5, 1968, Seattle voters approved water fluoridation proposal by a margin of 57 to 43 percent. Fluoridation measures were also on the ballot in Bellingham, Spokane (an advisory vote), Steilacoom, and Yakima, but those measures all failed. After the vote, Seattle water superintendent Kenneth Lowthian estimated that it would take “six months or so” for fluoridation to begin.
One thing I’ll note is that when Seattle began water fluoridation in 1970, it did so at a rate of 1ppm, but was more recently lowered to .8ppm, consistent with the minimum proscribed by state law. A major reason for the reduction in fluoride levels in water is the proliferation of fluoride toothpaste, and the fear that children might be taking in too much fluoride.
For what it’s worth, fluoride in Seattle’s water is unequivocally one thing we can say we have that Portland doesn’t.
For further reading:
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