Monday After: When Canton was a pioneer in fluoridation

Flouride. Some call it a miracle element. Just add water.

It has come to us through the years in our drinking water with no small amount of controversy, however.

The debate continues, although perhaps with less frequency and vehemence than in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and even into the 1970s, when some called fluoride "a real killer."

Debate over fluoride: National Institutes of Health gives pros and cons

Death from fluoride being introduced to our drinking water has not been documented in the decades since Canton was one of the first cities in the country to add it to its water supply.

Still, if you read a USA Today Network article by writer Mary Walrath-Holdridge, published recently in The Canton Repository, you'll know that many cities in Ohio and throughout the nation still are assessing the risks of fluoridation of municipal water supplies, accumulating evidence concerning the benefits of treating water with fluoride, and considering bans on fluoridation of public water.

Generally, officials of some communities in Ohio – and their constituents – are asking the question "Is fluoridated water still needed?"

"That's a difficult question," said Tyler Converse, superintendent of the City of Canton Water Department. "My understanding is that we were required (to add fluoride) many decades ago for the purpose of strengthening the teeth in young people, who were still developing.

"Now we have fluoride in toothpaste and there have been advances in dental care, so maybe it's less needed than decades ago," Converse reasoned. "But, I have no data of that from research."

The earliest archived reference to the wonders offered by flouride – when placed in water – printed in The Canton Repository appeared as a small item published Jan. 14, 1909.

“Messrs. Palerno and Cinngolani, the inventors of ... an antiseptic (of fluoride) employed in surgery, have found that a solution of one part in 500,000 of water will destroy all germs."

But, it wasn't until 1949 that another article noted Ohio residents connected to Lisbon schools were willing to consider health benefits of putting sodium flouride – in watered down amounts – in their children's mouths.

"The Parent-Teachers Association has launched a dental program for school children," an article in the Repository said on July 31, 1949, "and the use of sodium flouride for prevention of tooth decay is being studied."

Canton was first city in Ohio to fluoridate

The first communities in the United States to fluoridate were Newburgh, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, both implementing the process in 1944.

Fluoride has been added to Canton's water since 1952, making the city the first major municipality in Ohio – smaller villages had preceded it – to have its water fluoridated. By comparison, Cleveland's fluoridation didn't begin until 1956.

"This is a big thing for Canton," said A.E. Ransom, then water superintendent. "The fluoridation idea has been termed an advancement in public health practice second only to the control of enteric diseases by water chlorination.

"The dental and medical associations locally are to be commended for their stand on this program," he added.

Ransom and Dr. H.W. McConnell, president at the time of the Canton Dental Society, stopped short of calling fluoride a "cure-all." Instead, they said it was "a method of treating teeth cheaply, easily and efficiently so they will have more resistance to decay," The Repository explained.

Tests at the time had allowed health officials to predict that "fluoridation will result in a 50% to 70% reduction in decay of teeth."

"Because teeth have completed calcification by the age of eight, the younger the individual when he starts drinking fluoridated water, the more benefit he will receive," the 1952 newspaper article said.

While experts seemed on board with Canton's fluoridation program, city fathers weren't sure about the opinion of those drinking the city's water. So, the program wasn't even announced for about a month.

"Inauguration of the program was not announced immediately because officials wanted to test newly installed equipment and also check public reaction to the innovation," said the article in The Canton Repository in March 1952. "Not one complaint about changes in odor or taste of Canton water has been received."

Canton's fluoridation was short-lived

Canton's water continued to contain fluoride from 1952 to 1959 when voters decided to discontinue the practice. Some city officials, once pioneer supporters of the process – and their constituents – became ardent opponents to the process.

"A postcard campaign has been launched here in opposition to the fluoridation of Canton's water supply," reported the Repository in March of 1958. "Councilman Anthony Rossetti (D-At-Large), chairman of City Council's water committee, and Stark County commissioners have received numerous postcards complaining about the use of fluoride in the water.

The newspaper cautioned, however, that opponents' fears were unfounded.

"Both medical and dental authorities agree that minute portions of fluoride added to a municipal water supply is not in the least harmful and that it serves as a deterrent to tooth decay, especially in young children."

Later that month, a pair of resolutions urging that a study be made of the use of fluoride in the city's water drew a large crowd to a council meeting. A pair of resolutions had been introduced to the council, one requesting a study of the use of the chemical and the other suggesting a study – and possibly a public vote – on whether Canton's fluoridation be discontinued.

By the 1970s, Ohio state law already mandated that cities with populations of more than 5,000 fluoridate water supplies, unless they held a special election to decide the issue.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the city defied a state order to again fluoridate its water. After its appeals were denied, it complied and returned to fluoridation. Canton's water has been fluoridated ever since.

Weighing benefits and risks

Criticism of fluoridation had continued through the legal wrangling, causing water and health officials, as well as residents, to weigh the benefits and risks of adding fluoride to drinking water.

A letter to the editor published on June 23, 1976, for example, called sodium fluoride "a dangerous poison."

"This is rat and insect poison. It's a real killer," the letter claimed. "Death has been caused by less than one grain. ... It might toughen kids' teeth but it also dulls the creative part of the mind."

Converse said that such an argument against fluoridation of water is not applicable to the current fluoridation process in Canton.

"Ours is a completely different chemical compound," he said. "We buy the product in liquid form and it goes into large fiberglass holding tanks at our three facilities. As we pump water we have a small pump that actually is a fluoride feed pump. We pump it in at a rate of one part per million gallons of water."

That dose of fluoride – essentially 1 milligram per liter – is equal to dissolving a half of an aspirin tablet in a bathtub of 50 gallons of water, according to one online source.

Much of the fear of fluoride also has dissolved over the years, noted Converse.

"We used to get questions about it," Converse recalled. "But, not so much anymore. And I've never seen or heard any direct evidence that our dose is a risk."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Canton added fluoride to water in 1952. Here's why some were upset