Posted on: Friday, April 27, 2001

Fluoridation supporters not giving up on Moloka'i

By Christie Wilson
Neighbor Island Editor

WAILUKU, Maui — Despite a rebuff by the Maui County Board of Water Supply, supporters of fluoridation on Moloka'i are not giving up just yet.

Debra Mapel of the Moloka'i Dental Health Coalition said her group will be going before the Hawaiian Homes Commission to push for fluoridating homesteaders' drinking water to combat rampant tooth decay among the island's children.

Moloka'i's water systems are operated by different entities — Maui County, Moloka'i Ranch, the Kaluako'i resort and the Hawaiian Homes. Mapel said she has a commitment from Moloka'i Ranch to implement fluoridation if one of the other water systems goes along with it.

Mapel was on Maui yesterday to make a final push before the water board, which earlier had filed the coalition's request to implement fluoridation on the island of 6,500 or so residents. The board denied her request to reconsider the action.

The coalition comprises Moloka'i General Hospital, the Moloka'i Health Foundation, the state Department of Health, and Na Pu'uwai, the island's Native Hawaiian health-care agency.

The board presided over a contentious public hearing in Kaunakakai in February, with opponents arguing that fluoridation is unsafe and that the government has no business tampering with the public's water supply.