The effort to ban Louisiana water treatment systems from adding fluoride will get a vote in the state senate. It was a party line vote in the Health and Welfare Committee.
Houma Republican Mike Fesi said his bill is meant to stop putting poison into drinking water.
"The bags of the fluoride that they dump into our water had skull and bones on it and says you have to have a hazmat suit to handle it," said Fesi. "So I just don't understand why we are putting such a poison into our water."
Because at proper levels, it prevents tooth decay, which can lead to good health outcome beyond just healthy teeth, said Annette Droddy of the Louisiana Dental Association.
"Why would we take away the best public health measure of the 20th century?" she asked
Baton Rouge pediatric dentist Dr. Robert Delarosa tried to persuade lawmakers that at the proper levels, fluoride's benefits far outweigh the concerns.
"The latest revision of fluoride therapy has affirmed that fluoride exposure at the appropriate level has proven to be an effective therapy in reducing the prevalence of dental cavities in infants, children, adolescents, and persons with special needs," he told the panel.
The vote was 6-3.