Residents of Tomahawk, Wis., will be given the opportunity to voice their opinion on whether the city should resume adding fluoride to its water supply, the Tomahawk Leader reported Dec. 5.
Five notes:
1. The city discontinued water fluoridation in September after a storage room that houses its fluoride additive and other chemical supplies was damaged, requiring the complete replacement of the city’s water fluoridation system.
2. The city’s Board of Public Works later recommended that the matter of resuming water fluoridation be left up to voters.
3. The Tomahawk Common Council passed a resolution Dec. 3 that approved an advisory referendum for the April 1 ballots.
4. The ballot will ask voters whether or not water fluoridation should be resumed, but the Common Council will ultimately have the final say.
5. The referendum lists the advantages and disadvantages of the water treatments, and states that fluoridation has been "the subject of much question, leading some localities to determine to discontinue the practice."