When the story appeared last week on a local news site, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bronson of Anchorage denied it. Then the spokesman acknowledged it was true: Mr. Bronson went to a city water treatment plant in October and shut off the fluoride in the water system.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr. Bronson’s spokesman, Corey Allen Young, said the mayor made the decision on Oct. 1 after his team was informed that fluoride was burning the eyes and throats of workers who handled it. He said the fluoride was turned back on five hours later, after he learned that the city code required that Anchorage’s tap water be fluoridated.
But some local leaders say the mayor’s story doesn’t add up because no workers have reported any injuries related to fluoride, according to the union that represents them.
“I was pretty shocked to see the statement that the mayor’s administration put out,” said Aaron Plikat, an official at the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Union Local 367, which represents workers at the Eklutna Water Treatment Plant. “We’ve never had a complaint or even a phone call or a voice of concern that came from the plant there.”
He said that Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, which operates the plant, “does a fantastic job” with the workers by providing them with protective gear and training to safely handle fluoride.
Some local officials question whether Mr. Bronson, a Republican, might have been motivated by false claims about the safety of drinking...
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