Shots - Health Blog Wed September 12, 2012 Portland, Ore.,
Becomes Latest Fluoride Battleground Originally published on Wed
September 12, 2012 5:58 pm Over jeers and cheers from the
audience, commissioners on the Portland, Ore., City Council
voted Wednesday to add fluoride to the city's drinking water
starting in 2014. Portland is the largest American city that
doesn't add fluoride to its drinking water. But some groups have
raised questions about the possible risks from fluoridation and
oppose its use. Those concerns come despite the long and
authoritative list of organizations that endorse fluoridation to
prevent tooth decay: the American Medical Association, the
American Dental Association, the National Institutes of Health
and the American Cancer Society. The practice has roots in
research conducted in the first half of the 20th century, when
researchers learned that high levels of naturally occurring
fluoride in towns like Colorado Springs were causing children's
teeth to grow in brown and mottled. They