Port Hueneme Weighs Using Fluoride in Water

PORT HUENEME —  It was still unclear late Wednesday whether the 56,000 residents of Port Hueneme, Hollywood Beach, Hollywood-by-the-Sea, Silver Strand and the Point Mugu Navy base will become the first in Ventura County to drink fluoridated water.

At press time, the Port Hueneme City Council was still discussing whether to place fluoride--which is known to reduce tooth decay--in the water supply for residents of the city and surrounding areas when a new water treatment plant comes on line next year.

The discussion pitted fluoride friends and foes against each other in a debate that ranged from political philosophy to the alleged merits and dangers of adding the compound to drinking water.

Mayor Tony Volante appeared to have the deciding vote in the stalemate between Bob Turner and Murray Rosenbluth, fluoride proponents, and Jon Sharkey and Toni Young, opponents.

“It weighs heavily on my thinking that both Navy bases are for fluoridation,” said Volante, a retired Air Force colonel, referring to Point Mugu and the Seabee base in Port Hueneme. “I’m looking at the cost effectiveness; I’m looking at whether it’s a health hazard to anybody.”

If approved, Port Hueneme’s action could have far-reaching consequences for other county residents, said Don Kendall, general manager of Calleguas Municipal Water District. Calleguas is the county’s largest water wholesaler, supplying drinking water to more than 500,000 people in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard, Oak Park and the Santa Rosa Valley.

“That may set the tone for the entire rest of Ventura County,” he said. “When one agency [fluoridates], the rest follow. That’s how it typically works, it’s a domino effect. I’ve seen it happen.”

Opponents insisted on Wednesday that fluoridation is potentially unsafe, reeling off a litany of potential health effects including poisoning in children, and dangers to diabetics and pregnant women.

Sharkey had lined up such naysayers as Jeff Green, a spokesman for the San Diego group Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, which is attempting to place a statewide initiative on the ballot to overturn Gov. Pete Wilson’s 1995 mandate that all districts with more than 10,000 households must put fluoride in their drinking water. However, districts are awaiting state money to pay for the fluoridation plan.

Green has said fluoride is slightly more toxic than lead and just slightly less toxic than arsenic and likens its addition to drinking water to “mass medication of our entire population.”

Turner, meanwhile, had lined up his own slew of experts in favor of fluoridation, including the president of the California Dental Assn., a professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry and county officials.

Research has shown that fluoridation reduces cavities by up to 40%, and the American Dental Assn. has called it the single most effective public health measure available to prevent tooth decay.

“It’s a political issue rather than a health issue,” said Turner, a dentist. “Scare, fear and emotion will most of the time override scientific information and that’s really a shame.”

The council was considering directing the five-member board of the Port Hueneme Water Agency to fluoridate the water that it will deliver to customers after the water treatment plant comes on line in 1998. Council members make up a majority on the agency board--Volante, Rosenbluth and Sharkey--which would insure their vote was adopted, but Sharkey has said he will refuse to comply with an order.

The debate occurred because the $15-million water treatment plant is scheduled to extract the 0.7 parts per million of naturally occurring fluoride local residents already receive.

Turner wants that replaced and another 0.3 parts per million added to bring fluoridation up to the level considered optimum by experts for maximum health benefits. The plant, which has a capacity of 3 million gallons a day, has already been designed with the necessary equipment to fluoridate the treated water.