Voters in Salina, Kansas vote to keep fluoride in water

Salina voters rejected an effort to remove fluoride from their drinking water Tuesday by a 2-to-1 margin, halting a growing anti-fluoride movement.

The city’s dentists and doctors led the charge, and unofficial results showed 6,392 Salinans voting against the measure to remove fluoride and only 3,091 voting in favor.

“We are very excited to see Salina continue water fluoridation as it is an important public health benefit for our community,” said Allison Lesko, president of the Salina Dental Society. “We were also very pleased with how the medical and dental community could come together on this issue, and we are thankful to the community for voting tonight.”

Dr. Robert Moser, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, praised the local effort to maintain water fluoridation, which he said was a “good public health principle” based on sound science.

Several of Salina’s medical professionals took to the streets in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote to convince their neighbors that was the case.