One Middlesex County Mayor Wants To Stop Adding Fluoride To Water

The East Brunswick mayor wants the township to stop adding fluoride to its tap water.

“The township will end its mass medication of the public by ending the use of fluoride in our water system,’’ said Mayor David Stahl in last month’s State of Township address.

In the speech, he said he’s read a lot about the pros and cons of fluoridation.

When fluoride was first added to the township’s water system, there were not a lot of other ways for people to get fluoride, but now, there are many other options, the mayor said.

And he noted that many people are now choosing to drink bottled water.

“I just believe it’s time to end this and this is something that will be done very shortly,’’ Stahl said in the speech, which is available on YouTube.

But ending fluoridation would have to be done through a township council vote, and no vote has been scheduled, according to NJ.com.

According to MyCentralJersey.com, the township’s Water Policy Advisory Committee voted 6-1 to recommend that the township continue to add fluoride to its water.

In a February letter to the East Brunswick Sentinel, the vice-chairman of that committee said the township began adding fluoride to the water in 1954, after a majority of residents voted in favor of it in a public referendum.

In that letter, Miriam Wolin said if the township council has any concerns about the issue, the committee recommends another referendum.

The American Dental Association says adding fluoride to water supplies is “safe and effective for preventing tooth decay.” Studies show that water fluoridation reduces tooth decay by at least 25 percent, that organization said.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called community water fluoridation one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century, according to the ADA website.

But, other groups, including the Fluoride Action Network, oppose adding fluoride to water, saying it can lead to bone ailments and other diseases, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

East Brunswick’s township administrator told NJ.com that one of the main issues was the roughly $70,000 a year it costs to add fluoride to the water the township buys from Middlesex Water Company.