Anti-fluoride ballot initiatives get support from Anchorage legislators

[TexasTowelie]

An Anchorage ballot initiative effort aimed at removing fluoride from city water has two rather unusual political bedfellows supporting it: the Democratic incoming majority leader of the Alaska House and a conservative perennial local candidate who has never held public office.

Rep. Chris Tuck is listed as a co-sponsor of the initiative, which is gathering signatures to be placed on the April city ballot. The primary sponsor is Dustin Darden, a carpenter who, in runs for mayor and legislator, has used homemade wooden signs usually bearing anti-fluoride messages.

Newly elected independent Rep. Jason Grenn also signed the petition. But Grenn said he only signed it because he believes in direct democracy. He said he doesn't actually support removing fluoride from city water and trusts government assurances that it isn't harmful.

In Anchorage, bitter fights over fluoride have cropped up occasionally since the city started fluoridating its water in 1953. Before the possible battle shaping up for 2017, the most recent fight was in 2013, when the Anchorage Assembly re-authorized fluoridation. A ballot initiative has never made it past the signature-gathering phase.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2016/12/24/anti-fluoride-ballot-initiatives-get-support-from-anchorage-legislators/