Naples leaders may stop fluoridating drinking water. What to know

Naples city leaders may stop having fluoride added to the drinking water due to a recent federal court ruling and the urging of fluoride opponents.

Half a dozen residents, including physicians, addressed the Naples City Council on Wednesday on the harms of fluoride being added to the water and called for the practice to stop. The city began the practice in 1957.

The city council directed its attorneys to prepare an ordinance and resolution for consideration at a future board meeting.

Several speakers at the council’s Oct. 2 meeting were involved when the Collier County Commission voted unanimously Feb. 13 to stop the practice for customers in unincorporated Collier.

The county’s decision did not affect fluoridation policies in the cities of Naples or Marco Island. Both the cities of Marco and Everglades City do not add fluoride to its water system, according to their utility officials.

More:Medicated without consent? Collier leaders halt fluoride being added in drinking water

Fluoridating drinking water is increasingly under fire by fluoride opponents and gained momentum late last month after a federal court ruling in California.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward M. Chen ruled the federal Environmental Protection Agency must respond in some regulatory manner that adding fluoride to drinking water poses an “unreasonable risk” of lowering the IQ of children.

The judge’s ruling did not conclude with certainty that fluoridating the water is harmful to public health. At present, fluoride is added to tap water in the U.S. at 0.7 milligrams per liter, according to the court ruling.

 A lawsuit was filed by Food & Water Watch Inc. after the EPA denied the group’s petition under rights through the Toxic Substances Control Act. The group asked the EPA to consider whether fluoride in drinking water presents an unreasonable risk to the health of people.

“This order does not dictate precisely what that response must be,” the judge said. “One thing the EPA cannot do, however, in the face of this Court’s finding, is to ignore that risk.”

Supporters of water fluoridation say it helps prevent tooth decay, especially for children of low income families.

What did the Naples council hear?

Some of the speakers at Wednesday’s city council meeting had been active in convincing the county board to stop fluoridating the county water in February.

Nobody from the Collier County Dental Association or other organizations that support fluoridation addressed the council.

The fluoride opponents cited research that says fluoridation lowers the IQ of children, it contaminates food when water is used for cooking, and is a forced medical treatment. Another argument is that it violates the public’s right to informed consent when they are unaware fluoride is added to public drinking water.

Dr. George Yiachos, a board-certified cardiologist, said cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer but it has not prompted anyone to add statins that lower cholesterol to drinking water.

“Why not apply that same reasoning to fluoride in water?” he said, adding the toxicity of fluoride has been compared to the toxicity of lead.

Fluoridating drinking water disregards the concept of personal choice and informed consent when the public is unaware it is added to the drinking water, he said.

“It’s time to stop turning a blind eye to the toxic impact of fluoride,” he said. “Informed consent has been violated far too long.”

Scott Kiley, who is a member of the nonprofit Stand for Health Freedom, said a decision to remove the fluoride from the city water is “easy and a must do” and currently is a forced medical treatment upon residents against the state’s Patient’s Bill of Rights law.

 The freedom group was instrumental in getting the Collier commission in 2023 to pass a health freedom ordinance over COVID-19 practices.

“Out of abundance of caution, protect our children’s health and adhere to our Patients’ Bill of Rights,” Kiley said of fluoridating the drinking water.

Dr. Richard Schroeder, a retired obstetrician, said research shows fluoride in drinking water “should have been a no go from the start” yet government authorities were pressured decades ago to allow it.

Did council members offer views?

Council members initially were considering adding the issue to one of a series of workshops in the coming weeks and months to address a long list of priority issues that were identified some months back.

Some of the priority issues involve density, parking, stormwater management and “resiliency” of city infrastructure.

What’s not on the list of priorities for some residents is fluoride, said council member Ray Christman. It is a special interest group pushing the issue.

“I have received no emails or phone calls that this is a priority (of residents),” he said.

He also pointed out there has been a lot of research into fluoridation of drinking water and having staff prepare a report for the council would be time consuming, plus he suspects a survey of homeowners’ association would find it is not a priority.

Council member Linda Penniman said if there is a “groundswell of support” to address fluoridation in the water that might be a different story but that has not been the case so far.

Taking a different stance was Council member Berne Barton, who said parents who want to make sure their kids are getting fluoride can take them to the dentist.

“We are effectively medicating without informed consent,” Barton said. “Why are we putting ourselves into the position of making this decision (for parents).”

Council member William Kramer said he was asked about the issue while campaigning before the March elections for council.

The premise for fluoridating drining water is to benefit underserved populations, but children in Naples are getting fluoride treatment, Kramer said.

The issue of no longer adding fluoride in the city drinking water was an issue the council addressed in 2011 and the decision was to stay the course, said Council member Beth Petrunoff.

She spoke to Dr. Alexis Diaczynsky, past president of the Collier dental association, to her dentist and looked at research from Cleveland Clinic. The cost of adding fluoride to the water is $60,000 a year, she said. She does not believe fluoride is a drug.

“There is a lot out there for and against it,” Petrunoff said. “I am leaning toward fluoride in the water.”

Mayor Teresa Heitmann said she was part of the council in 2011 when the issue was debated and she supported removing it from being added to the water back then and still holds that view.

Research that shows something is safe often gets reversed, Heitmann said.

Vice Mayor Terry Hutchison referred to the recent court ruling in California and said “we are on the cusp of a change in science.”

He called for pausing or suspending the city’s fluoridation practice and a polling of the council showed support for taking that step.

City Attorney Matthew McConnell advised the council it would be better for an ordinance and resolution to be drafted that would allow for public notice and input.