1 in 3 Americans lacks fluoridated water
- From: rpautrey2 <rpautrey2@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:49:41 -0700 (PDT)
1 in 3 Americans lacks fluoridated water
Fluoride hailed for reducing dental cavities, but 82 million still go
without
Reuters
updated 5:29 p.m. CT, Thurs., July. 10, 2008
Water systems serving about 30 percent of Americans are not giving
them fluoridated water, six decades after fluoridation was started as
a public health measure to prevent tooth decay, officials said on
Thursday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hails the
reduction in dental cavities due to adding fluoride to public water
supplies as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th
century.
Most Americans get their water from municipal or regional community
water systems. A new CDC report showed that as of 2006, 69 percent of
people in the United States who get water from these systems received
fluoridated water, up from 65 percent in 2000 and 62 percent in 1992.
That means that while 184 million Americans get fluoridated water from
community water systems, 82 million do not.
"This is one of the dirty little secrets — that the whole nation has
not yet embraced fluoridation of water, which has enormous public
health benefits," Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the
American Public Health Association, said in a telephone interview.
Fluoridation of public water supplies was introduced in 1945 in Grand
Rapids, Mich.
"It's still an under-utilized, very effective public health measure,"
Dr. William Bailey of the CDC's Division of Oral Health, who led the
report, said in a telephone interview.
Some major cities still do not fluoridate their water supplies,
including: San Diego; Portland, Ore.; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Wichita,
Kansas. San Diego has committed to begin fluoridating its water by May
2010.
In California, the most populous of the 50 U.S. states, only 27
percent of people served by community systems were getting fluoridated
water as of 2006, the CDC said. Only Hawaii (8 percent) and New Jersey
(23 percent) were lower.
Fluoridation has remained controversial among some people. In fact,
some opponents in the 1950s denounced it as a communist plot, which
was lampooned in director Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Cold War satire "Dr.
Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
Current opponents argue the fluoride being added to water may cause a
health problems such as weak bones and bone cancer, an assertion the
CDC rejects.
Asked if there is any responsible evidence showing negative health
effects due to fluoridated water, Bailey said, "No, not at the levels
that we use in community water systems."
The CDC report showed other states with low percentages of people
served by community systems getting fluoridated water included: Oregon
(27 percent), Montana (31), Idaho (31), Wyoming (36), Louisiana (40)
and New Hampshire (43). Fourteen states topped 90 percent. Washington
D.C., was at 100 percent.
"Most people are complacent about the issue because they just
naturally assume they live in a city that's fluoridated," Bailey said.
Fluoride is added to water — either in powder or liquid form — at
water treatment plants, normally at levels of about one part per
million, Bailey said.
Roughly 10 percent of Americans, mostly in rural areas, get water from
wells, and this typically is not fluoridated. Also, many Americans
drink bottled water that is not fluoridated.
The government's goal is for 75 percent of U.S. residents on community
systems to be getting fluoridated water by 2010.
Copyright 2008 Reuters.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25629538/
© 2008 MSNBC.com
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