PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — While soaking up the rays in what's been an unusually sunny season, Portlanders have broken away from their polite chatter about food, wine and outdoor adventure to fight about whether to fluoridate the water supply.
Supporters and opponents of public fluoridation have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of a Tuesday election that has drawn heavy attention from the city's mainstream and alternative newspapers.
Campaign signs have sprouted alongside roses on lawns across the city, as have reports of people stealing them.
Voters living in one of America's most liberal cities are generally in lockstep; rare is the political issue one feels hesitant to raise at happy hour. But fluoridation emerged as one such topic.
Liberals concerned about the dental health of low-income children are pitted against liberals averse to putting anything unnecessary in the water. Added to the mix are libertarians who say fluoridation violates an individual's right to consent to medicine.
