Fluoridation’s Long And Winding Road Into Cincinnati’s Water Supply, Part II

The City of Cincinnati, encouraged by all the major dental associations, first considered adding fluoride compounds to the water supply to reduce tooth decay especially among children in 1952. Although equipment for this purpose was installed, fluoridation was cancelled at the polls in 1953. [Read Part One here.] Fluoridation reemerged as a question in 1960, pushed toward another vote by the Cincinnati Jaycees organization, who saw fluoridated water as a sign of a forward-thinking city. The Jaycees faced entrenched opposition by the “Citizens Committee Against Fluoridation,” one of the conservative causes organized by J. Julian and Edith Bowman out of their art gallery and framing shop on Fourth Street. (Older residents will remember the Bowmans’ “Impeach Earl Warren” billboard on Gilbert Avenue near the Art Museum.)Once again the Enquirer led the charge for dental health. Once again, the newspaper ran a series of articles very much in favor of fluoridating the water supply. This…