From: Anchorage Daily Dispatch
Anti-fluoride ballot initiatives get support from Anchorage legislators
An Anchorage ballot initiative effort aimed at removing fluoride from city water has two rather unusual political bedfellows supporting it: the Democratic incoming majority leader of the Alaska House and a conservative perennial local candidate who has never held public office.
Rep. Chris Tuck is listed as a co-sponsor of the initiative, which is gathering signatures to be placed on the April city ballot. The primary sponsor is Dustin Darden, a carpenter who, in runs for mayor and legislator, has used homemade wooden signs usually bearing anti-fluoride messages.
Newly elected independent Rep. Jason Grenn also signed the petition. But Grenn said he only signed it because he believes in direct democracy. …
Other Alaska communities, including Fairbanks, Juneau and Palmer, have stopped fluoridating city water in the past decade….
Tuck said he’s been a longtime opponent of water fluoridation and believes it has adverse health effects. He has a reverse-osmosis system in his home to remove fluoride from the public drinking supply….
“I would rather it be a choice, rather than something that’s automatically added into the water supply,” Tuck said.
David Logan, a retired Juneau dentist who serves as executive director of the Alaska Dental Society, said community water fluoridation has been shown to be safe, cheap and effective way to improve oral health.
“We’re for public health and we deal in facts, not in conjectures, and not in emotions,” Logan said. “For us, it’s a very clear-cut issue.” [absolute lie – editor]
A second ballot initiative, also co-sponsored by Darden and Tuck, would require the manufacturer of the fluoride used by the city to provide the public with “an accurate list of contaminants and their amounts for each batch.” The initiative also seeks a detailed toxicology report and a “written verification of the chemical’s safety for ingestion by all water customers.”
D. M. Hutchins
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