4.2.08
Bill would require more than 60 Nebraska towns to add fluoride to water
By Martha Stoddard, Omaha World-Herald
LINCOLN — Another 297,000 Nebraskans could help protect their teeth simply by drinking tap water under a bill given first-round approval Tuesday by the Legislature.
Legislative Bill 245 would require cities and towns of at least 1,000 residents to add fluoride to their public water systems. The bill would allow communities to opt out of the requirement by putting the issue to a vote of the people.
State Sen. Joel Johnson of Kearney, its sponsor, said LB 245 would save money by reducing the cost of Medicaid and would protect thousands of children from cavities and rotting teeth.
"We are failing our youth at this time in many of our cities. Let's save money and get the best oral care we can," he said.
Nationally, about two-thirds of Americans served by public water systems receive fluoridated water, according to the American Dental Association.
Roughly 70 percent of Nebraska's 1.78 million residents can turn on the tap and get fluoridated water, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. That compares with about 75 percent of Iowa residents, according to the Iowa Department of Health.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha offered personal testimony about the effectiveness of fluoride. In his area of north Omaha, many children can't get regular dental care but still have better teeth than in the past.
"I come from a poor area. I represent poor people. I am poor myself. Children in my community get fewer cavities now than when I was growing up," he said.
Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island said he saw the cost of not adding fluoride when he volunteered with the Nebraska Dental Association's Mission of Mercy free dental clinics. More than 4,000 people showed up for the clinics during the past three years.
"Fluoride is extremely safe, the benefits are more than enormous and the cost savings are more than enormous," he said.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every dollar spent on fluoridation saves $38 in dental costs. The agency also said Medicaid dental programs cost up to 50 percent less in communities with fluoridated water compared with those with unfluoridated water.
But Sen. Don Preister of Omaha downplayed the potential benefits of fluoride and questioned its potential costs.
And Sen. Tom Hansen of North Platte said LB 245 amounted to an unfunded mandate. North Platte has 21 wells, which would make it expensive to add fluoridation to city water, he said. Typically, fluoride is added at each well.
LB 245 is similar to existing Nebraska law, which required cities or villages to add fluoride or vote to opt out before Sept. 2, 1973. Johnson said LB 245 would require cities to reconsider the issue.
The bill sets a deadline of June 1, 2010, for communities to add fluoride or put it to a vote.
Sixty-four Nebraska communities with populations over 1,000 do not fluoridate their water and do not have naturally occurring fluoride in their water, HHS said. Those include Ashland, Beatrice, Chadron, Grand Island, Lexington, Norfolk, North Platte and Scottsbluff.
The Metropolitan Utilities District, which serves cities in the Omaha metro area, and the Lincoln Water System are among the 65 public water systems that have fluoridated water. Those systems serve more than 942,000 Nebraskans.
Forty-one other communities have naturally fluoridated water.
The bill advanced on a 29-4 vote.