Anti-fluoride bill tabled by committee
Measure requiring municipalities to put warning on water bills sees no action
Posted: February 24, 2014
Special to The Capital-Journal
A proposal that would have required communities to post a warning on their water bills if they fluoridate was tabled by a 10-2 vote in the House Health and Human Services Committee Monday.
Committee Vice Chair Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit, moved to table the bill, and there was no debate. Two committee members opposed the motion: Rep. Patricia Sloop, D-Wichita and Rep. Kevin Jones, R-Wellsville.
The chairman of the committee said he thought there wasn’t enough to push the legislation forward.
“I supported tabling the bill,” said Rep. Dave Crum, R-Augusta. “I didn’t feel like the proponents of the bill were able to bring substantial scientific evidence that fluoride is harmful.”
Proponents of the bill relied mainly on a Harvard study that was performed in China.
House Bill 2372 stated that more research would need to be made on the exact effects of fluoride. The bill went onto say there was a possibility for harm to the brain and other important organs in the human body.
Rep. Leslie Osterman, R-Wichita, a member of the committee, said it wasn’t his place to legislate the matter at the state level.
“My feeling it’s not my job up here to direct municipalities,” Osterman said. “I felt like people that want this fight should take it to the municipalities."
The committee heard testimony on the bill this past Wednesday, which drew a large crowd. There were proponents and 24 individuals and organizations that opposed it, which included all the major dental associations in Kansas.
For the rest of the meeting the committee moved forward on several other pieces of legislation, including the passage of House Bill 2552 on prompt payments from KanCare-managed care organizations. After some slight amendments, the bill passed.
UPDATE: Kansas lawmakers table anti-fluoride proposal
By: Associated Press
Posted: Mon 4:58 PM, Feb 24, 2014
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has tabled a bill to require cities and other local governments to warn consumers if they put fluoride in their water supplies.
Chairman David Crum said the House Health and Human Services Committee's 10-2 vote Monday means the anti-fluoride bill is dead.
The measure has been condemned by public health officials and the Kansas Dental Association. The federal Centers for Disease Control last year called fluoridation of water "one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century."
But the bill says fluoride is dangerous and would require local governments to warn consumers if it fluoridates water -- and to warn that it might lower children's IQs.
Anti-fluoride activist Mark Gietzen said supporters of the bill will try to get action in the Senate.
Previous story:
A Kansas House committee is considering a proposal to require cities and other local governments to warn consumers if they put fluoride in their water supplies.
The bill on the Health and Human Services Committee's agenda Monday has been condemned by public health officials and the Kansas Dental Association. The federal Centers for Disease Control last year called fluoridation of water "one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century."
But the bill declares that fluoride is dangerous and says more studies of it are urgently needed. The bill would require local governments that fluoridate water to warn consumers and that it lowers children's IQs.
The bill stems from an active anti-fluoride movement in Wichita, which does not add fluoride to its water.
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