A city worker who quietly lowered the fluoride in a Vermont group’s consuming water for years has resigned — and is asserting that the degrees had really been low for for much longer than believed.
Richmond water superintendent Kendall Chamberlin disclosed in his five-page resignation letter, submitted Monday, that fluoride ranges haven’t been within the state-recommended vary for over a decade — as an alternative of practically 4 years, because the state had not too long ago disclosed.
Chamberlin stated in his letter — in language that at occasions echoes unfounded reviews which have circulated on-line lately — that he doesn’t assume the present fluoridation coverage is legally required or scientifically sound, and, in his opinion, poses “unacceptable dangers to public well being.”
“I can not in good conscience be a celebration to this,” he wrote.
Chamberlin wrote that he has by no means obtained a destructive job overview, has every day precisely measured the fluoride ranges within the water, and has offered month-to-month written reviews that have been accepted and signed by the city supervisor and submitted to 2 state companies.
He contends that fluoridation is voluntary and that the quantities aren’t mandated.
Whereas fluoridating municipal water is voluntary, Vermont cities that do “shall management the extent of fluoride” throughout the state’s specified ranges, in accordance with the state’s water provide rule.
The Vermont Well being Division stated it doesn’t regulate municipal water programs. It communicated continuously with Chamberlin in regards to the goal fluoridation, and “Richmond’s month-to-month working reviews would present indicators of enchancment, however ranges would drop again off once more,” in accordance with Robin Miller, the well being division’s director of oral well being.
“We labored on good religion that each one events have been working towards the identical objective,” she stated by e-mail.
Months after the invention that the fluoride added to the water was half the quantity beneficial by state and federal companies, the city of Richmond stated two weeks in the past it could elevate ranges to be inside vary.
City Supervisor Josh Arneson stated Thursday that he’ll overview fluoride ranges month-to-month and that the city’s Water and Sewer Fee can even take a look at the report.
The unique information that the fluoride had been decreased for practically 4 years — a a lot shorter time than Chamberlin revealed in his resignation letter — shocked some residents and space docs, who raised issues about misinformation, dental well being and authorities transparency, and stated it was not a call for Chamberlin to make alone.
Resident Penni Rand stated by e-mail Thursday that if her youngsters have been nonetheless younger, she can be furious to be taught that the city’s water system was not supplying the correct quantity of fluoride that she believed it was.
“It’s not OK!” she wrote. “For me, the larger problem is the unilateral approach during which Kendall operated. He didn’t need to be informed what to do.”
Dr. Howard Novak, the one dentist within the small city, stated Chamberlin is a well-intentioned man who “made a tactical error” and acted on data “that’s greater than suspect.”
“Fluoride in consuming water is taken into account one of the profitable public well being initiatives that our nation has ever put forth,” he stated. The youngsters he see who do not need fluoride have way more cavities, which are additionally greater on common, than the children who’ve fluoride, he stated.
The addition of fluoride to public consuming water programs has been routine in communities throughout america for the reason that Nineteen Forties and Fifties. Many U.S. municipalities and different nations don’t fluoridate water for a wide range of causes, together with opposition, feasibility and the flexibility to get fluoride different methods.
Critics assert that the well being results of fluoride aren’t totally identified and that including it to municipal water can quantity to an undesirable treatment; some communities lately have ended the observe.
The American Dental Affiliation notes on its web site that fluoride — together with life-giving substances similar to salt, iron and oxygen — can certainly be poisonous in giant doses.
However within the beneficial quantities, fluoride in water decreases cavities or tooth decay by about 25%, in accordance with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, which reported in 2018 that 73% of the U.S. inhabitants was served by water programs with satisfactory fluoride to guard enamel.
