On September 12th Portland city council voted 5-0 to add fluoridating chemicals to our Bull Run water.
This is a highly contentious issue that Portland citizens have already rejected three times at the polls and a recent survey shows ¾ of Portlanders opposed to this council action.
KBOO's Joe Meyer speaks with scientists Howard Patterson and Jeff Fryer about the effects of fluoride in the environment after it goes down the drain.
The basic message is that the effect of fluoride in the environment is understudied and that what little research exists points to deleterious effects on salmon even at low concentrations. The bigger worry is the un-studied effects of fluoride combining with other chemicals already dumped in our ecosystem and the long-term effects through bioaccumulation on the entire food chain.
- KBOO