Evening star., 1952-02-22
Three Scientists Urqe
Congress 10 Go Slow
On FIuoride Wafer

On FIuoride Water
For hour after hour. three
earnest men of science paraded
to a glistening mahogany table
and, in their cold technical Ian
guage, tried to chill public enthu-
siasm for fluoridation of water.
The men were specialists, offer
ing to Congress the results of
their experiments or studies -
weighed by their best judgment,
right or wrong.
| Listening were members of the
special House Committee on
Chemicals in Food, under Chair
man Delaney of New York. They
were trying to decide whether
American cities such as Washing
ton should add sodium fluoride to
drinking water as way to reduce
decay in children's teeth.
The scientists urged caution.
They felt that fluoride in drinking
water does reduce tooth decay
among children. but they insisted
that nobody yet knows how fluor-
ide might affect other parts Of
the body. They offered this judg-
ment in the face of insistence of
the United States Public Health
Service that fluoridation is safe
and should be adopted.
Investigations Not Completed.
! Testifying before the committee
yesterday were three men with no
ak to grind: DR.. j. r. Blayney.
director of the Evanston Qll.)
Dental Carries Studies; DIR. v. o.
Hurme. director of clinical re-
search at the Forsyth Dental In
f1rmary for Children in Boston,
and DR.. E. B. Hart, professor of
biochemistry at the University of
wisconsin.
DR.. Blayney did not flatly op-
pose fluoridation, but he warned
that any city starting the program
the District plans to begin this
spring - should understand that
"the investigative work on the
problem has not yet been COM
pleted."
DR.. Hart thought f1uoridation
should not be adopted generally
in the United States for another
five years-untitl the completion
of experiments in Newburgh and
Kingston, N. Y. The experiment
with fluoridation in those two
cities has been going on for five
years and shows promise, but DR..
Hart still was cautious.
DR.. Hurme, a wiry man with
gray hair, spoke thoughtfully for
more than 80 minutes, then con-
cluded: LAS yet there is not
enough scientific basis for recon-
mending immediate acceptance of
proposals to treat entire popula-
tions with huorides."
Discounts Urgency.
Urging a "go-slow" policy, DR..
Hurme said, "the problem of carries
(tooth cavaties) control is not of
such urgency as to justify loosely
controlled pharmaceutical expert
mentation on an unlimited scale
today"
Any city that does decide to put
1uoride in its water, DR.. Hurme
said, should set up its own con-
trolls system-its own scientific
plan for studying the results so
other cities might profit by the
experience.
He especially urged that the
studies watch the effect that
Ifluoridation might have on chill
dren with tuberculosis or kidney
trouble. He had doubts. even
fears. but he would not condemn
experimentation that might point
to scientific truths.
Representative Miller, Republi-
can, Of Nebraska, a committee
member and a physician in private
life, reached his own conclusion:
"It seems to me that there are so
many problems and unknowns in
volved, maybe we should have
more study first (before going
ahead with fluoridationD
But other committee members
were not ready to express opin-
ions. Next Tuesday. the committee
will hear other witnesses who dc
not support general fluoridation at
this time. The hearings are sched-
uled to close Thursday with tes-
timony from the American Dental
Association and possibly the Pub
llc Health Service.