GROUP VOWS NOT TO ACCEPT BRUSH-OFF; JUDGE THROWS OUT PART OF ANTI-FLUORIDE SUIT.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Staff Writer

A Sherman Oaks-based group waging a legal and political battle against fluoride in the city's water vowed to continue its fight Wednesday after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge dealt it a setback.

Judge John Reid granted a motion by the city to throw out a portion of the group's lawsuit dealing with allegations that fluoridation is a violation of citizens' constitutional rights.

The group, Los Angeles Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, cited a right under the 14th Amendment to refuse unwanted medical treatment.

The group will appeal the decision, said Jeff Green, San Diego-based director of the statewide Citizens for Safe Drinking Water.

The rest of the lawsuit, which will move forward, alleges group members were denied their right to speak out fully during a City Council meeting in January when the council approved the contract for fluoridation chemicals.

The Department of Water and Power began adding fluoride to the municipal water supply Aug. 10.

Green and about three dozen other fluoridation opponents protested outside DWP headquarters downtown after the court hearing Wednesday. Chanting slogans, they carried signs highlighting what they call growing scientific evidence about adverse effects of fluoridated water, especially on infants and children.

``They cannot back up the alleged benefits of fluoridation,'' said Paul Borraccia, spokesman and director of the group's Los Angeles chapter.

Group members said scientific studies in recent years indicate fluoride can be linked to cancer, lower IQ in children and other ill effects, include mottling of children's teeth.

But public health officials said the group's complaints have no factual basis.

``They make claims that are not substantiated by peer-reviewed articles,'' said Tim Collins, dental director for public health programs and services for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. ``Fluoridation is, in my opinion, the most important oral health measure that's ever been put in place in this country.''

Collins said fluoridation in Los Angeles ensures that everyone who drinks the city's water, including those too poor to receive regular professional dental care, will get its tooth-decay prevention benefits.

Every U.S. surgeon general since 1945 has supported water fluoridation, the American Dental Association says it helps prevent tooth decay and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recently named fluoridation as one of the 10 most important public health measures of the century, said Collins, who chairs the California Fluoridation Task Force, a loose federation of pro-fluoridation groups.

About 62 percent of the nation's water supply, furnishing water to some 145 million Americans, is fluoridated, he said. Every dollar spent on fluoridation saves $80 to $100 in dental care, he said.

David Hotchkiss, the assistant city attorney defending the lawsuit, said that if opponents don't want fluoridated water they don't have to drink it.

Melinda Rho, a DWP water quality engineer, said people can remove the fluoridation from water through reverse osmosis membrane filtration systems that can be installed on faucets.

A 1995 state law requires cities with more than 10,000 water connections to fluoridate their water.