Evening star., 1952-03-07
Cities Must Decide
On FIuorides, Says
Head Of House Group
BY james {. Roper

SAluAuAAa 41C4UAACy VI u s11OuSt
Investigating committee declared
today that the net value Of fiu-
oridating public water supplies
lis an open question that each
city must decide for itself.
Mr.. Delaney's Committee on
Chemicals in Food has just con-
cluded public hearings on the use
Of f1uorides to help prevent tooth
decay.
Whether to put fiuorides in
everybody's drinking water is an
open question: calculable risk. =
said Mr.. Delaney, a New York
Democrat. in an interview.
There is no question that flu
orine In the proportion of one
part per million parts Of water
has q good effect on the teeth.
However, many other aspects OF
the problem were raised during
the hearings. and we do not have
sufficient evidence to conclusively
indorse fiuoridation.'' S.
Would Let Citizens Decide.
Mr.. Delaney said he personally
viii propose no legislation on the
dispute that he does not expect
his committee to.
what to do is a local question, -
he said. "Our hearings mark the
first time so much information on
the subject has been gathered to-
gether in one place. Let the citi-
zens make their own decision, with
the understanding that fiourida-
tion Of water is a calculable risk, "
Three weeks Of hearings pro-
duced 10000 words Of testimony
enough to I'LL three fair-sized
novels.
The committee heard detailed
Explanations Of how the addition
of f1ourides to water supplies has
given children drinking the water
extra resistance against tooth de-
cay. The United States Public
Health Service, the American
Medical Association and the
American Dental Association are
among the strong boosters OF
fluoridation, which is scheduled
to begin in the District this spring
A number of witnesses, however,
questioned whether some harm
might result from the fluorides-
chemical compounds of fiuorine, O
poisonous gas.
Public Is Concerned.
"The people should know that
fluoridation will be the subject of
controversy that will continue for
some time" Mr.. Delaney said in
his first statements on the dis
pute. "We need to know whether
it will have a bad effect on any
large group, particularly the aged.
The question of huoridation's
effects on the kidneys cannot be
overlooked. We have so many
letters from SO many sources that
we know the public is concerned. ''
Concern over persons with kid
ney trouble was raised by the fact
that the kidneys are called on to
throw OF most of the fluorine that
gets into a persons system. Only
a small proportion goes to the
teeth to do good.
The final two witnesses before
the committee agreed yesterday
that persons with kidney trouble
should be careful of the amount
of f1uorides they swallow.
Bottled Water Suggested.
DR.. Francis F. Heyroth of the
National Research Council testi-
fed that a person suffering from
bad kidney trouble probably
should buy bottled water that is
free OF fluorine. DR.. David B,
Ast Of the New York State
Health Department conceded un-
der questioning that persons suf-
fering kidney trouble apparently
retain more Of the potentially
dangerous fluorine than do nor
mally healthy persons. Both Drs.
Heyroth and Asst, however, in
dorsed f1uoridation.
Mr.. Delaney was not especially
concerned about fluoride's effects
on the rate of growth Of cancer. A
University of Texas experiment on
mice indicated that fluorides speed
the death Of mice that already
were destined to die of cancer,
but the United States Public
Health Service hotly disputes this
conclusion.