Who bears responsibility for an impoverished child with a mouth full of rotting teeth? Parents? Soda companies? The ingrained inequities of capitalism?
Portland, Ore., which never fluoridated its water supply and over time earned the distinction as the biggest city in the country to just say no, reversed course on Wednesday with a unanimous vote by the City Council to add fluoride beginning in early 2014.
Many Portlanders treasure their city’s quirky distinctiveness. Others said its leadership role as the largest city in a state that is mostly nonfluoridated — and has some of the worst tooth-decay problems in the nation, according to various medical studies — made the new course long overdue.
Ten Great Public Health Achievements -- United States, 1900-1999
- Vaccination
- Motor-vehicle safety
- Safer workplaces
- Control of infectious diseases
- Decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke
- Safer and healthier foods
- Healthier mothers and babies
- Family planning
- Fluoridation of drinking water
- Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard
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