By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
TOMAHAWK – Next spring, Tomahawk City voters will have an opportunity to weigh in on fluoridation of the city’s drinking water supply.
The Tomahawk City Common Council, during its meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, December 3, approved a resolution authorizing an advisory referendum to appear on the April 1, 2025, ballot.
The referendum will ask city voters whether they think fluoride treatments of the city’s water supply should end.
Last month, the council voted to direct city clerk/treasurer Amanda Bartz to draft the resolution.
The council’s directive followed a recommendation by the city’s Board of Public Works to raise the issue of water fluoridation with city residents. In September, the board, citing corrosion at a storage facility that houses the city’s fluoride additive and other chemical supplies, voted to end the treatments after Mayor Steven E. Taskay proposed doing so. The council eventually decided to propose an advisory referendum.
The city has since stopped fluoride treatments.
According to the resolution approved by the council last week, the city’s water fluoridation system “has reached a state where a complete replacement is required if the city is to continue fluoridating the water.”
The resolution also mentions the “advantages” and “harms” of the treatments, saying that fluoridation has been “the subject of many questions, leading some localities to decide to discontinue the practice.”
“The Common Council would like to hear what the public’s position is on the issue” of fluoridation, the resolution states.
The council will ultimately have the final say on how the city moves forward.
Proponents of water fluoridation, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), point to the treatments’ long-term public oral health benefits, including cavity prevention.
According to a study published on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine website, opposition to water fluoridation centers in part on the potential risks of toxicity, which can lead to gastrointestinal upset and, in severe cases, kidney and heart dysfunction . coma and eventually death.
Fluoride toxicity is rare among adults in the developed world, and more than 80% of cases of fluoride toxicity occur in children under the age of six and are caused by ingesting fluoride toothpastes or mouthwashes, the study said.
State and local governments have the power to decide whether or not to implement water fluoridation.
LCHD Director Shelley Cohrs addresses the board
During the public comment period on the resolution, Lincoln County Health Department (LCHD) Director and Health Officer Shelley Cohrs provided information on water fluoridation in Lincoln County.
Cohrs said that during her 18 years as LCHD Director, dental health has become an issue in the county.
LCHD conducts a Community Health Assessment every five years, Cohrs explained. Through the 2023 assessment, LCHD learned that 42% of Lincoln County residents do not have dental insurance.
According to the survey, cost is the main barrier to county residents getting dental care, with 71% of respondents saying they can’t afford it.
The survey also found that 40% of respondents had a tooth pulled because of toothache, 30% had a tooth pulled because of tooth decay, and 31% said they had no one in their family who had visited a dentist within two years. leading to the evaluation.
The 2023 survey showed that access to dental care is also an issue for Lincoln County residents, Cohrs said.
“There is no one who will see someone on Medicaid in this county for dental care,” Cohrs said, noting that “poor” state reimbursement for Medicaid services is among the factors contributing to the absence of such providers.
Cohrs explained that Lincoln County had a Medicaid provider for dental care during the 2018 LCHD evaluation, but the current absence of such a provider has made accessing dental care in the county “more difficult than ever.”
The ability to take time off work and transportation also creates problems for receiving oral health care in Lincoln County, according to the assessment.
Cohrs said the biggest benefit related to oral health care identified in the LCHD evaluations was fluoridated drinking water.
“Now we don’t have that power anymore in the city of Tomahawk,” Cohrs said in reference to the city’s recent discontinuation of treatments. “Well, it is a very important matter that you are considering. I’m just asking, please look at it very carefully.’
Cohrs encouraged the board to look at the issue of water fluoridation from “both ends of the spectrum,” noting that while some are concerned about high fluoride levels, the Wisconsin Department of Health (DHS) said fluoride levels of 0.7 milligrams per liter is safe.
Cohrs told the board she would be available to answer any questions they may have about water fluoridation.
The Council slightly modifies the language of the referendum before approval
Before voting on the resolution, the council voted to slightly amend the referendum language.
The originally proposed question was: “Should the City of Tomahawk continue to fluoridate the municipal water supply?”
Before finally passing the resolution, the council voted to remove the words “continue to” from the question because the city is not currently conducting the treatments.
