To you, perhaps. To me, it's a public health issue that I'm willing to have decided on its merits: does it, or does it not, enhance public health? If it comes to a vote, I'd support it and, if the voting public decides "yea", I'm OK with it. That's a political process, but it's not "political".
Am I to gather that the issue is so politically-heated to you that you wouldn't even abide a vote on the matter? If your community voted for fluoridation, would you leave?
Fluoridated drinking water promotes better dental health — I’ve stated that several times. It also has some risks — a fact that you seem reluctant to admit.
It’s a giant leap from recognizing the health benefits of fluoride (or any medication) to concluding that it must be put in drinking water. You’re advocating a technocratic approach to government — whereby the “experts” determine what is best for the unwashed masses, and impose their prescriptions on the masses.
The issue isn’t whether the treatment would be helpful — the issue is whether or not people have the final choice about what goes into their bodies.
Ideally, there would be no way that governments could decide to forcibly medicate the populace. Given that we don’t have an ideal world, then yes a vote would be called for. The second best solution (the best being free choice), would be a referendum, and third best would be a vote by elected officials. An absolutely unacceptable solution would be to turn the decision over to technocrats — no matter how much “expertise” they have.
If my community fluoridated the drinking water, I would buy bottled water. If I were prevented from doing that (a growing number of activists want to ban bottled water), I would rebel in some way.
BTW, how would you feel about mandatory flu vaccinations? It’s a very serious public health issue — far more serious than dental health. If you don’t have a vaccination, that affects other people — whereas, if you get tooth decay, that only affects you. Numerous medical technocrats are already advocating mandatory flu vaccinations. Would you support that? Would you remain in your community, if you were forced to take a vaccination that you believed carried too much personal risk?