Flouride and toothpaste -- not the same thing. Need both.

Flouride pills are cheap. My kids take them since we have well water. I think they are just a few bucks for a 100 pills or something like that.

Almost all toothpaste has fluoride in it.

Not to mention I believe that PPS still provides the fluoride rinse in school at no charge for the kids where the parents don't opt out of poisoning their kids.

PLEASE stop confusing business bluster (known as propaganda) from actual science.

Is fluoridated water necessary for healthy teeth?

NO. Most recent, large-scale studies have found that fluoridated water provides only a minor benefit to teeth, or no demonstrable benefit at all. According to a recent Canadian government review: "The magnitude of fluoridation's effect is not large in absolute terms, is often not statistically significant and may not be of clinical significance."

Moreover, according to the National Academy of Sciences, fluoride is not an essential nutrient. This means that no human disease - including tooth decay - will result from a "deficiency" of fluoride. Thus, unlike real nutrients like calcium and magnesium, the human body does not need fluoride for any physiological process.

"I do not fear women, Mandrake. But I do deny them my essence".
General Jack Ripper

They have plenty of money for candy & soda pop, Councilman Jelly Fish. And much of that junk is available in or around the schools. Start there first. See the progress that can be made with that one easy very inexpensive first step.

Meanwhile, the junk food industry should have to add fluoride to that crap that they market to kids & young people. After all, besides whatever role poor hygiene, ignorance, etc., may play, it's the big sugar and acid eating bad habits that pose the actual greatest danger of weakening tooth enamel and causing dental caries.

See, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health:

Dental caries - Prevention

Oral hygiene is necessary to prevent cavities. This consists of regular professional cleaning (every 6 months), brushing at least twice a day, and flossing at least daily. X-rays may be taken yearly to detect possible cavity development in high risk areas of the mouth.

Chewy, sticky foods (such as dried fruit or candy) are best if eaten as part of a meal rather than as a snack. If possible, brush the teeth or rinse the mouth with water after eating these foods. Minimize snacking, which creates a constant supply of acid in the mouth. Avoid constant sipping of sugary drinks or frequent sucking on candy and mints.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001055.htm

Focus on solutions that eliminate the actual problem and don't spend millions of taxpayers' and ratepayers' dwindling hard-earned money.

And for the umpteeth time, as the people of Portland have made clear repeatedly in referendums: quit messin' with our water!

This is about another big contract giveaway involving PWB, not public health.

There's also the dangerous problem fluoride and fluoridated drinking water pose to the human endocrine system, especially the thyroid, and demonstrated links to cancer.

See, for example, http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/thyroid/

"Everything causes cancer? Perhaps. Conceivably even a single electron at the other side of the universe. The real question is, how likely is any one particular cause? In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer, and causes it faster, than any other chemical." -- Dean Burk, Chief Chemist Emeritus, U.S. National Cancer Institute
http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Lfluoride.htm

FLUORIDATION-LINKED HUMAN CANCER BASED ON TIME-TREND MORTALITY DATA, By Dean Burk, Ph.D., U.S. National Cancer Institute, Retired, and Dean Burk Foundation, Inc., and John Yiamouyiannis, Ph.D., National Health Federation.
http://www.rethinkingcancer.org/resources/magazine-articles/2_3-4/fluoridation.php

And, furthermore, a "One-Size-Fits-All Dose" of fluoride in our drinking water is irresponsible, especially to the very young, and to those who may be sensitive and not know it, and therefore are unable to protect themselves from this mass dosing. And they shouldn't have to!

A lame-duck City Council sneaking this in on the waning days of their stupendously catastrophic "Reign of Error" is anti-democratic, and un-American.

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it, Randy.

"Is fluoridated water necessary for healthy teeth?

NO. Most recent, large-scale studies have found that fluoridated water provides only a minor benefit to teeth, or no demonstrable benefit at all. "

I will never forget the first time I went to a dentist in Portland.

Dentist: "You're not from around here, are you?"

Me: "No. How could you tell?"

Dentist: "You have healthy teeth. The water here isn't fluoridated."

That was enough to make me a believer.

"Fish said many hard-working families can't pay for fluoride."

Nick buddy - Most people can't afford to pay for their water period.

Especially since Randy had the genius to see how easy it was to raise rates 50% in 3 years and probably another 50% the next 3 years.

Dear CoP Representatives , we want a vote of the Citizens before you put anything in our Water !! We do not need Big Brother here in PDX.

Attaboy, Steve!

Steve does bring up an excellent point. If the city council is so concerned about poor people not being able to afford flouride then why don't they stop raising the cost of water?

My guess is that Fish doesn't care about facts, he is just trying to find a chord that he can strum to get what he wants.

High income families will filter their water or buy bottled (bets Nestle backing this?), so only low income families will suffer the fluoridated water consequences. Since the cavity prevention benefit of fluoridation is negligible, the cost per avoided cavity will be astronomical.

Use the money to provide free dental care for every Portland child: more humane, more cost-effective, more comprehensive, more every good thing, and NO TOXIC CONSEQUENCES. Who benefits from playing it the high cost, less humane, less comprehensive, low equity way?

BTW, have the high volume users checked in on this? How many of our local craft breweries and distillers and chip makers want their water fluoridated?

I thought the covering reservoirs thing was as dumb as these people could get. Clearly I was wrong.

I don't really care what they do but I grew up in Oregon and have often heard from Dentists and Hygienists over the years that I must not have grown up here because my teeth are in such good shape. Also my twin boys now 19 have never had a cavity. So it's BS that fluoridation is an end in itself for good dental health. It's more complicated than that.

A big wild card here is the suburban cities that buy water wholesale from the PWB. They represent something like 40% of PWB's customers. It sounds like the way they are currently proposing to add the fluoride those wholesale customers wouldn't have the option of buying non-fluoridated water. Will be interesting to see if their opinion matters at all.

Many, many decades ago fluoridating the public water system was an annual debate subject in school. This, of course, was before the ever popular debate about black helicopters.

Here's a thought... untreated Bull Run water winds up still being available at a premium as a "premium product", perhaps via a contracted supplier (Nestlé), while those who can't afford the luxury are forced to consume a chemical soup containing Health Department mandated additives such as vitamins, flouride, lithium, or ritalin, that the USDA says can be labelled a "munipal water product".

Well, Mr Fish, why can't they afford it? Why are businesses beating a path to Portland's door to establish themselves here, providing family wage jobs, with benefits that provide the individual with the opportunity to earn enough to live comfortably here? We don't need fluoride, we need family wage jobs!

It is a red herring that will distract you away from real problems.
What about the environment? All that poison fluoride going into the river and ground? It's OK if you kill us but do hurt the environment.

The SamRand twins got themselves another joined at the hip.
SamRandNick triplets!

Can jobs or the environment leave bags of cash for you?
I mean, it's expensive to be here in weird and hip Portland.

Sammy tweeted that he's behind it. No pun intended, there.

JD in the NE

Funny---didn't read your post but wrote this on a different thread:

Not that it means anything, but funny nevertheless..

When my wife first visited the dentist here, upon examining her cavity-free maw he said---

"No cavities or fillings---you didn't grow up here did you! Hahaha!"

Prior to Portland, I'd always lived in cities with fluoridated water and have suffered no ill-effects I can determine, and have had few cavities. I'm not sure what the big deal is.

Portland Petition Opposed to Fluoridation http://www.change.org/petitions/city-council-of-portland-oregon-don-t-fluoridate-portland-s-drinking-water

Portland City Council's driving the Portland Water Bureau
into debt over covering the reservoirs by issuing millions
of dollars worth of bonds sets the stage for take over of our
Bull Run Water by privateers right around 2016. Then we will
have no say what private multinational corporations will do
with our water. None whatsoever.

My guess is that Fish doesn't care about facts, he is just trying to find a chord that he can strum to get what he wants.

What is it that Fish wants or expects to get out of this arrogance and betrayal?
Actually, I consider his actions a betrayal of a democratic process. So arrogant that he won't even move forward with a pretense of a hearing and listening to the public and another side than to what he has been lobbied.

Nancy Newell is right, debt leading to privatization then no rights, none whatsoever.