The Athens City Council Chambers were nearly full with citizens concerned about the addition of fluoride to Athens drinking water and the newfound rights corporations have gained with a recent Supreme Court ruling.
For the second time this month, several Athens residents stood at the podium to take a stand about abolishing the fluoridation of the city’s water supply. Despite passionate words from a variety of people, Council President Jim Sands does not expect the city to pursue the pleas for legal reasons.
Sands said Yellow Springs, a village in Greene County, was able to overturn their fluoridation practice because they have a much smaller water supply. Because Athens serves water to more than 20,000 people, the city is required to keep the fluoride, he said.
“The (Environmental Protection Agency) requires cities to maintain fluoride levels in water once they have voted fluoridation in,” Sands said. “This is a state issue; the city doesn’t have the wherewithal to get out of it. Fluoride is a corrosive gas, but the EPA on the state level and the national level still believe it is valuable to have in the water.”
Despite the city’s inability to address the issue, citizens at the meeting explained a plethora of arguments against fluoridation. Athens local Greg Broadhurst described his difficulties as a result of fluoride intake.
“As a man who has just had a bowel replacement I can attest to this,” Broadhurst said. “We need to do something based on a scientific study. Fluoride is a side product of fertilizer production. Countries in Europe have banned it, so what the heck is it doing in our water?”
Abe Alassaf, an Ohio University senior, offered the consultation of an expert to shed light on the issue.
“I’ve talked with Dr. David Ball, a dentist of Chillicothe, and he can come speak with the council,” Alassaf said. “It’s costing $20,000 a year just for the chemical itself, not to mention the repairs needed as a result of corrosion.”
Sands said, however, that Athens has no power to overturn the fluoridation decision they passed over a decade ago.
“Two weeks ago, a gentleman recommended we fight the EPA on this,” Sands said. “Well, we’ve just finished a $2 million argument with the EPA that lasted over thirty years.”
Sands was referring to the alleged water contamination that Athens was charged by the EPA for in 1980. The subsequent fines were paid off late in 2011.
After the party fighting for purer water relinquished the floor, the topic of corporations’ rights to fund elections dominated the meeting.
Councilman Jeff Risner, D-2nd Ward, has authored and introduced a resolution officially stating Athens’ support of the reversal of the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission.
The ruling allows corporations to be called people with first amendment rights, and, as a result, can donate unlimited funds to political campaigns.
Ohio University Emeritus Associate Professor of Physiology John Howell, also a member of the group Democracy Over Corporations, spoke on behalf of Risner’s resolution. He said corporations have garnered too much control of the political system.
“Corporations can overwhelm local elections if they so choose,” Howell said. “If the people have ceded control of the government to executives, then it’s time to take it back. The constitution is a charter granted by liberty, not a charter of liberty granted by power. Five men in black robes in Washington should not be able to overrule the role of the people.”
No one in attendance said they disagreed with the resolution.
Council will vote on the resolution in their meeting Feb. 6.
io312410@ohiou.edu
