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Israel Vargas\/High Country News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published by<\/em>\u00a0High Country News\u00a0<\/a>and is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n On the evening<\/span> of June 2, 2025, the city council meeting in Pasco, Washington, was winding down when Councilor Leo Perales piped up from his seat on the wood-trimmed dais.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we\u2019ve talked about fluoride a few times,\u201d Perales said. \u201cIf we can just bring forward a vote in the next couple weeks to just remove it from our water without getting any staff presentation, or hearing, I think a lot of us feel that we should just take it out.\u201d Perales had made local headlines a few months earlier when he released a plan to establish the Department of Pasco Efficiency, or \u201cDOPE,\u201d a\u00a0deliberate<\/a>\u00a0echo of DOGE, the federal so-called Department of Government Efficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mayor Pete Serrano leaned toward his microphone. \u201cI\u2019m certainly in favor of removing it,\u201d he said. Beside Serrano\u2019s mic sat a blender cup advertising Titan Nutrition, a company that\u00a0sells<\/a>\u00a0\u201cTrigger Warning\u201d supplement powder. The product\u2019s label sports a dramatic image of President Donald Trump bleeding from his ear after an assassination attempt.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time of that council meeting, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the United States secretary of Health and Human Services, had\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending fluoridation, the practice of adding the mineral to water supplies to help prevent dental decay. Dentists were alarmed: Fluoride strengthens tooth enamel, and without it, acids can cause holes to form, leading to cavities, difficulty eating and debilitating pain.<\/p>\n While high concentrations of fluoride\u00a0can<\/a>\u00a0give teeth a mottled look and cause abdominal distress, or, in rare cases, even organ failure, Kennedy had long spread disproven conspiracy theories that it is a\u00a0dangerous neurotoxin<\/a>\u00a0that lowers children\u2019s IQs. As a cabinet member, he was making it a cornerstone of his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a council disrespect the citizens of Pasco like this council is doing this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Since 1945, when Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first American city to fluoridate its water, studies have documented marked drops in tooth decay and dental disease in communities that take up the practice. The CDC considers fluoridation one of the 20th century\u2019s 10\u00a0great public health achievements<\/a>, alongside things like widespread seatbelt adoption and declining tobacco use. Reversing course \u201cwill be hardest felt by Medicaid beneficiaries, including children and the most vulnerable Americans who often cannot afford routine oral care,\u201d Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association,\u00a0warned in a press release.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But since fluoridation began, conspiracy theories about it have been \u201can ongoing, never-ending American obsession,\u201d wrote R. Allan Freeze and Jay H. Lehr in their 2008 book,\u00a0The Fluoride Wars<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the West\u2014from Mesa, Arizona, to Port Angeles, Washington\u2014communities have debated fluoridation for decades. Dentists testify about science. Opponents argue fluoride is poison, and many insist that \u201cclean water\u201d must be unfluoridated. In some states, a municipality\u2019s decision to fluoridate is up to voters; in other places, residents must bring the issue to their council, which ultimately makes the decision.<\/p>\n Around the time of Kennedy\u2019s pronouncement, however, Western lawmakers began sidestepping public input and unilaterally banning water fluoridation. In late 2024, the Aberdeen, Washington, city council passed an ordinance to stop fluoridation, ignoring a survey showing that local residents wanted it. This year, the council in Lynden, Washington, did the same after a motion to put the issue in front of residents for an advisory vote failed. And in March, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed the first statewide ban on fluoridating water in the nation,\u00a0despite a poll<\/a>\u00a0showing that most Utahns support fluoride or think the issue should be decided by communities.<\/p>\n This summer, the Sweet Home, Oregon, city council also ended the practice. \u201cOver the last few years, I\u2019ve heard from a significant number of residents asking that fluoride be removed,\u201d Mayor Susan Coleman wrote in an email to a resident.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet a public records request revealed that Coleman\u2019s emails from 2020 to 2025 showed just a single email from one resident opposing fluoride. \u201cToday, fluoride is widely available through toothpaste and rinses for those who choose to use it,\u201d Coleman replied to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a council disrespect the citizens of Pasco like this council is doing this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Now Pasco, a city of nearly 82,000 with a majority Hispanic population located in the arid shrub-steppe of southeastern Washington, was considering doing the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the June 2 meeting, after Perales and Serrano discussed ending fluoridation, then-interim City Manager Dave Zabell spoke into his microphone. \u201cThere are people who are strong believers in fluoride for dental health, and there\u2019s strong believers opposed to fluoride,\u201d he said. \u201cMy fear is that if you just make a decision without inviting input from those groups, it could just come back and bite ya.\u201d The council ultimately decided to arrange a staff presentation on the matter and schedule two public feedback sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first public session took place on a hot, dry evening in early August. One by one, about 20 people took seats in chairs with fading red cushions in the council\u2019s chambers. Many wore medical scrubs. They were dentists, a dental hygienist, a school nurse, parents. Most spoke of fluoride\u2019s documented benefits, especially to low-income communities, children with developmental disabilities, people who lack dental insurance or any access to fluoride rinses. Just two people expressed a desire to halt fluoridation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Spencer Jilek, who practiced dentistry in Pasco for 42 years, stepped up to the podium.\u00a0\u201cI was going to start off my speech by thanking the council members for being here,\u201d he said, waving a hand toward the front of the room. But the chairs on the dais were empty: No council members had come to listen. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a council disrespect the citizens of Pasco like this council is doing this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n For drinkable water <\/span>to run from Pasco\u2019s taps, 15 million gallons are sucked up every day from the Columbia River and piped through two treatment plants, where it\u2019s filtered and strained. Several chemicals are added to meet federal drinking water standards, including chlorine, which disinfects water to protect people from parasites and diseases, and permanganate, which makes water clear and removes funky tastes and smells. And, of course, there\u2019s fluoride: Pasco spends $40,000 per year on fluoride to meet the federal standard of 0.7 parts per million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Surveys show community support for fluoride; in 2009, an independent survey of 300 residents found that almost 80 percent supported continued fluoridation. A more recent poll is in progress, but in late June, staff members discussed early results over email: Of 991 residents surveyed, 52.5 percent opposed removing fluoride.<\/p>\n Pasco\u2019s City Council is composed of seven members, the majority conservative. A review of members\u2019 fluoride-related emails from January to June 2025, obtained through a public records request, showed little demand for removal, though one woman emailed a quote from the Book of Revelation in the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses New World Translation. \u201cHopefully the fluoride will go away!\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be a big community decision,\u201d Perales replied to one person who wrote in support of fluoride. \u201cThank you for your input and I will definitely consider it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But late on the night of the June meeting, Perales emailed two other conservative council members, Charles Grimm and Peter Harpster, suggesting that his mind was made up. In the email\u2014subject line: \u201cFLOURIDE\u201d\u2014he laid out a plan for discontinuation: \u201cThis could be fast tracked and could be done by November if we move on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI say we keep it way more simple than that,\u201d Grimm responded: He thought they should have a single presentation on the matter \u201cand vote the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSounds good to me. If we have the votes, let\u2019s do it,\u201d Perales replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not everyone on Pasco\u2019s city council opposes fluoridation. \u201cI do not support removal as I represent the many that have seen the benefits of this mineral in Pasco water,\u201d Councilor Blanche Barajas emailed\u00a0HCN<\/em>.<\/p>\n Both Grimm and Perales declined to answer questions for this story. While Pasco has discussed fluoridation in the past, the recent debate came \u201cout of nowhere,\u201d said Janae Parent, district administrator of the Benton-Franklin Health District. Did the council come to the health district asking for information on fluoride? \u201cNo, they did not.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHaving been born and raised here, I\u2019ve got those conservative values in me as a leader,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got some responsibility here as a community to also take a look at facts, take a look at studies, and understand where\u00a0we<\/em>\u00a0want to be, not just what\u2019s being said at a national level, and not have groupthink.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would you choose an issue that would actually hurt people?\u201d Jilek, the dentist who testified to an empty dais in August, said later. \u201cThis is not the hill they should want to die on.\u201d<\/p>\n Seth Cotlar, a history professor at Willamette University who writes about the history of far-right politics, wondered the same thing. \u201cHow does something that isn\u2019t an issue become an issue?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd why would you want to make that thing an issue?\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out that, in the past, ultraconservative groups like the John Birch Society pushed conspiracy theories warning that fluoridation was part of a Communist plot. In the 1950s, the Los Angeles-based anti-Communist Keep America Committee distributed a leaflet naming what it believed were \u201cThe Unholy Three\u201d: polio vaccines, mental hygiene and fluoridated water. By adopting fluoride, \u201cevery citizen will be at the mercy of the enemy\u2014already within our gates,\u201d it read.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got some responsibility as a community to take a look at facts, take a look at studies, and understand where we want to be, not just what\u2019s being said at a national level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Fluoride\u2019s sudden revival as a hot-button issue is \u201cconnected to this generalized world of conspiracy, which MAHA has amplified,\u201d Cotlar said. \u201c(The podcast\u00a0Conspirituality<\/em>\u00a0has) a line that I really like, which is that these MAHA people, they get the feelings right, but the facts wrong. Especially around health, there\u2019s a real sense of vulnerability and uncertainty and fear and anxiety and mistrust of our health system.\u201d That creates an environment, he said, \u201cfor people to rush in with simple answers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But it also plays into real concerns. Amarnath Amarasingam, an associate professor at the School of Religion and the Department of Political Studies at Queens University in Ontario, Canada, said Kennedy exploits real issues\u2014water pollution, lack of access to healthy food to sow conspiracy theories and mistrust of science.\u00a0 \u201cAt the core, he\u2019s saying we eat very unhealthy foods. Well, yeah, that\u2019s true; all doctors have been saying that forever. And then it becomes \u2018vaccines are bad for us\u2026vaccines were produced by evil deep-state actors in order to keep us subservient.\u2019 And now you\u2019re in the conspiracy space.\u201d<\/p>\n Amarasingam said that if people really believe fluoride is toxic but unavoidable, that could contribute to an overall feeling of powerlessness. \u201cAnti-fluoride activism might be a symptom of this overwhelming sense that forest fires, pandemics, whatever else is going on\u2014things are collapsing. All I can really do is protect the four walls around my kids and myself. It might be a symptom of this sense of chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n As fall closed in, <\/span>Pasco\u2019s council changed, but the fluoride issue remained.\u00a0<\/p>\n Serrano was tapped by the Trump administration to be the interim US Attorney of eastern Washington, and the council voted to replace him with Joe Cotta, a prominent conservative pastor. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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