I would like to acknowledge people on both sides of the fluoride issue.

It is clear to me that there is much thought on both sides. It is refreshing that as a community, we are staying with the issue without bashing one another.

While there is support for the usefulness of using fluoride for kids, there also is evidence-based research that brings those results into question (the Cochrane Collaboration, which releases comprehensive reviews regarded as the gold standard in assessing public health policies, found water fluoridation may not prevent cavities).

More concerning to me is that the FDA currently considers fluoride an “unapproved drug” and that the Lancet (you can’t get much more rigorous in terms of a medical journal) reclassified fluoride as a “developmental neurotoxin.” There are numerous studies (over 300) that appear to call into question the safety of low levels of fluoride in drinking water.

I vote for having the choice about whether my family ingests fluoride. If you agree that your family should have the right to make its own choice, then please support the removal of fluoride in the water supply. Over 200 communities, from Telluride to Portland, Ore., have voted in favor of having individual family choice.

Please join me in having Durango be the next community to do so.

Jordan Blank

Hesperus