Fluoridation in Washington State BennerCitizen WashingtonWenatchee High School12/14/20001._STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: Washington State has a current public policy on the issue of fluoridation, which is too general a statement to unite the state and its population on the issue. This situation was witnessed recently when the city of East Wenatchee was split in its opinion on the issue. Situations such as these are occurring all over the state of Washington. Washington needs a sound public policy that unites the entire population of Washington. The purpose of this paper is to debate the arguments of both for and against, and create a public policy that can unite the state of Washington2._EVIDENCE A PROBLEM EXISTS: A._Danger to Salmon: (1)”In a 1982-1986 study of salmon migration at John Day dam on the Columbia river by Damkaer and Dey. High salmon loss was caused by high levels fluoride concentration from an aluminum smelter 1.6km above the dam. The average daily discharge of fluoride in 1982 was 384kg. This was associated, at the dam, with a fluoride concentration of 0.5mg/L and a migration time of more than 150 hours and a 55% loss. In 1983, discharge was reduced to 107 kg/day. This was associated with a reduction of concentration to 0.17 mgF/L and the migration time to less than 28 hour with a loss of 11%. In 1985, fluoride discharge of 49kg/day was accompanied bay a concentration of 0.2 mgF/L and a Salmonid of 5%.” During the time of the study, however, John Day dam was constructing a fish ladder, which was completed in 1987. According to the Discovery Channel; (2) (not a direct quote) In order to construct a fish ladder onto an already existing dam, you must stop water from flowing through the dam or construction area. So water had to be rerouted, probably through the same tunnels used to reroute the river when the dam was built. This would provide an open path for fish to swim through which could account for the incre...
