Fluoridation Finally Ends Officially: Board Obeys Nov. 5 'Mandate'

The Cambridge Water Board voted Wednesday to discontinue fluoridation of the city's water--and made the ruling effective as of Feb. 6, when fluoridation actually ended because the Water Department's supply of fluoride had run out.

The Board had been waiting for City Solicitor Richard D. Gerould '24 to say whether it was legally bound by the 16,802 to 15,308 referendum vote to discontinue fluoridation. Gerould cited a state Supreme Court decision in a recent Newton case that such referenda are only advisory, and told the Board that it has "sole authority to determine whether there shall be fluoridation."

Board member J. Carrell Morris, Gordon McKay Professor of Sanitary Chemistry, said that the Board had also waited for Gerould's opinion about the suit now in court to compel the anti-fluoridation forces to disclose the sources of the funds they used in their campaign.

Morris said Gerould indicated that the suit could not affect the validity of the referendum, and that there was therefore no reason to await a decision on the suit. "This was the determining factor in my case," Morris said.

John F. Davis, chairman of the Board, had said earlier that he would await Gerould's opinion. Once it was in, he said, "We couldn't see any use in fighting any longer." Davis added that there had been a division of opinion among the three Board members, but refused to say who took which side.

Michael J. Mahoney, the third Board member, said he was not concerned with the Board's legal position. "Fluoridation should have been discontinued after the mandate of the people in November."