MADISON, Alabama -- The Madison Utilities board meeting will hold a special work session Monday night to address several issues and projects, including a discussion of fluoride in the city's drinking water.

Several Madison residents, led by the efforts of Robin and Ben Gremillion, have expressed concern over possible health effects caused by fluoride and have requested the board to consider removing it from the city's water supply.

Madison Utilities General Manager Ricky Pounders said public comments will be limited because of other items on the agenda.

"Our goal for the limited time that we have set aside (for fluoride) is to hear from both sides of the issue and then share some additional facts that we are assembling," said Pounders. "We have some other pressing matters that must be addressed as well so we need to use this limited time wisely to cover as many items as possible."

Fluoride is a compound that contains fluorine, a natural element, according to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry website (www.aapd.org).

It says using small amounts of fluoride on a routine basis can help prevent tooth decay and communities with water fluoridation have lowered decay rates by more than 50 percent.

The site says fluoride can be found as an active ingredient in many dental products such as toothpaste, mouth rinses, gels and varnish.

Robin Gremillion isn't opposed to use of topical fluoride, only that which is put into the drinking supply.

After the birth of their youngest child, she began experiencing severe medical problems ranging from excessive weight gain, migraines and excruciating joint pain, which led to extreme exhaustion.

Despite countless doctor visits, none could pinpoint her problem so Robin began searching for her own answers. She found a website describing a goiter (lump) associated with hypothyroidism. She immediately felt a large goiter in her neck.

A doctor prescribed medication to regulate her condition and it helped minimize her migraines and exhaustion. But the weight nor goiter went away. She kept reading and discovered fluoride might be a possible factor in her health problems.

She learned most water filters do not remove fluoride, so she replaced hers with an expensive activated alumina filter which does. In just two months, she said the improvement in her health was dramatic.

"My research about fluoride really started in earnest then, and the facts I've read are even more disturbing than just the implications for the thyroid," she said. "The fluoride that we drink in our water supply is literally a hazardous toxic waste product from the phosphate fertilizer industry. It bio-accumulates in the bones, soft tissues, and glands of our bodies."

Robin said she learned fluoride can also lead to many other health-related problems, including cancer, ADHD, Alzheimer's, heart disease and other serious conditions.

As a result of her efforts, the board recently voted to reduce the levels of fluoride from .08 to .07 milligrams per liter of the city's water, a minimal level recommended by the Department of Health and Human Resources.

In addition to the discussion on fluoride, Pounders said the remainder of the tentative agenda includes financial trends, water system review, wastewater system review and a roundtable discussion.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Madison Utilities building at 101 Ray Sanderson Drive.