Halton Regional Council is set to revisit the issue of the fluoridation of Halton’s water in January 2012, which means now is the perfect time to start really looking into this issue.
All across Canada, from Waterloo to Calgary, communities are deciding to end water fluoridation. American cities are also opting out and thousands of scientists and medical professionals worldwide are saying the fluoridation of drinking water must end. Just recently, the Council of Canadians joined the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Great Lakes United in demanding an end to the practice.
Why are so many people concerned about what’s in the water?
Interviewed recently on Coast to Coast AM, Director of the Fluoride Action Network, Paul Connett and leading dentist in the fight against fluoride, Dr. Bill Osmunson discussed the dangers and risks of the use of fluoride in our toothpaste and drinking water. The deliberate addition of fluoride to the water supply was begun in 1945 with the idea that it would reduce dental decay. But kids are being overexposed (some 32% have dental fluorosis), and 23 studies have shown that fluoride lowers IQ in children, Connett reported.
90% of fluoride comes from the phosphate fertilizer industry — it’s a hazardous waste sold to communities who add it to their water supply. But using the water supply as a way to deliver medicine is risky as the dosage can’t be controlled, Connett pointed out. Dental schools taught that this practice was safe and effective, but statistics now show there’s no benefit from fluoridation, Osmunson stated. Fluoride can really be considered more of a poison than a drug, he claims, while Connett noted the National Research Council conducted a 3 1/2 year study which found the level of allowable fluoride in the water supply was too high.
On tubes of toothpaste, it clearly states not to use more than a pea-sized amount of fluoride and to call poison control if more than that amount is ingested. If that’s the case, how do we know this is safe to add to our drinking water? Fluoride was originally shown to be effective when applied topically, not ingested, Osmunson pointed out. And what about babies and infants who are consuming formula mixed with fluoridated water? The American Dental Association was so concerned that they now recommend against giving babies fluoridated water.
There are plenty of studies that show no difference in tooth decay in countries with no water fluoridation compared to those that do fluoridate. In some cases, non-fluoridating countries even have lower rates of tooth decay. Instead of forcing everyone to ingest fluoride, wouldn’t a better solution be to have those who wish to drink fluoridated water simply add it themselves using tablets without going through the ethically dangerous practice of medicating the general populace?
Fluoridating the water supply also causes an issue surrounding dosage. If you take a prescribed drug, you follow a certain specific dosage for that drug. As well-intentioned as it may have been to fluoridate the water supply, a major issue is that the general population is then consuming fluoride at uncontrolled dosages — some people drink much more water than others, so they will be exposed to much more fluoride than others.
Connett also stated that fluoride concentrates inside the bones and can make them more brittle and cause problems akin to arthritis. Because its molecules are so small, fluoride is not removed by smaller filters such as Brita. Reverse osmosis filters do eliminate it, but people are still being exposed during bathing, Osmunsum detailed. The Internet will ultimately bring an end to fluoridation, as the truth can’t be hidden anymore, declared Connett. People can visit the Fluoride Action Network to take action and sign up for bulletins to receive the latest news about communities voting against water fluoridation.
Here are some communities in Canada and the United States who have decided to end water fluoridation in the past year or so:
Oct. 31 — Lakeshore, Ontario (33,000)
Oct. 25 — Palmer, Alaska (8,400)
Oct. 18 — Lawrenceburg, Tennessee (11,000)
Oct. 16 — Churchill, Manitoba (1,000)
Oct. 13 — New Plymouth, New Zealand (50,000)
Oct. 4 — Pinellas County, Florida (700,000)
Sept. 30 — Spencer, Indiana/ BPP Water (10,500)
Sept. 22 — College Station, Texas (100,000)
Sept. 12 — Slave Lake, Alberta (7,000)
Sept. 6 — Hohenwald, Tennessee (4,000)
Aug. 16 — Pottstown, Pennsylvania (15,500)
Aug. 15 — Spring Hill, Tennessee (30,000)
Aug. 8 — Philomath, Oregon (4,500)
July 20 — Taber, Alberta (6,500)
July 4 — Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan (5,000)
June 30 — Taumarunui, New Zealand (5,000)
June 6 — Fairbanks, Alaska (30,500)
May 18 — Naples Village, New York (1,070)
May 16 — Mount Clemons, Michigan (17,300)
April 21 — Lago Vista, Texas (6,500)
Mar. 17 — Marcellus, Michigan (1,100)
Feb. 16 — Independence, Virginia (1,000)
Feb. 8 — Calgary, Alberta (1,300,000)
Feb. 7 — Yellow Springs, Ohio (3,200)
Feb. 7 — Vercheres, Quebec (5,240)
Jan. 19 — Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania (5,500)
Nov. 15, 2010 — Sparta, North Carolina (2,000)
Nov. 4, 2010 — Tellico, Tennessee (900)
Oct. 25, 2010 — Waterloo, St. Jacobs, and Elmira, Ontario (103,000)
Total: 2,571,500 people
The community organization Milton Green — dedicated to sustainable solutions to preserve the environment of Milton — has alerted us to an upcoming public discussion on this matter:
You are invited to a free, public discussion about water fluoridation in Halton hosted by Oakvillegreen Conservation Association. Refreshments provided. Everyone welcome.
Water Fluoridation: What Every Parent Should Know, What Every Citizen Should Ask
Tuesday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Oakville Town Hall,
1225 Trafalgar Road, in Committee Room 1Regional Council will be revisiting the fluoridation of Halton’s water in January of 2012 so this is an important meeting.
If you would like to help with this campaign or if your children are among the up to 35% of Halton kids suffering from dental fluorosis caused by over-exposure to fluoride, we’d like to hear from you. Emails can be sent to Karen at president@oakvillegreen.org.
For more information, contact:
Diane Sprules
905-842-2540
diane.sprules@cogeco.ca
Here in Milton specifically, it’s a non-issue for one segment of the population. ‘Old Milton’ — or the parts of Milton built before the 2000′s — receive their drinking water from the nearby escarpment. The newer areas of Milton (now approximately 2/3 of the town’s population) are serviced by the ‘big pipe’ from Lake Ontario. That water supply is indeed fluoridated.
We encourage everyone to educate themselves on this matter and attend the public meeting on December 6th in an attempt to have the region consider ending water fluoridation.
On top of the obvious health concerns, there is also the issue of cost: municipalities spend tens of thousands to millions of dollars annually to fluoridate drinking water. With local governments obsessed about being cost-conscious with taxpayer money, the cost of fluoridation becomes another important consideration to the Region of Halton who has worked effectively to keep tax rates as low as possible.
As always, we invite you to leave your $.02 in the comments section below.
Curious, what does the American Dental Association, Health Canada, World Health Organization, US CDC (Centre for Disease Control) say about fluoride?? Oh right, they all say it’s safe and beneficial
Btw check your facts about American dental association –> http://www.ada.org/4052.aspx#safe
Let me guess, Kevin still thinks Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK…. News flash: not everything the government tells you is necessarily true.
Quite simply, the pro-fluoridation argument is flawed.
There is no study that shows definitively there is a benefit from drinking fluoridated water. Most of Europe is non-fluoridated and guess what – they have the exact rates of tooth decay as North America! That fact alone makes this a no-brainer!
If everything is equal, why wouldn’t we want to err on the side of caution and keep as many chemicals as possible OUT of our drinking water?
The pro-fluoride gang will try to dredge up bogus stats on the effectiveness of DRINKING fluoride… What is the benefit of consuming it?? It is meant to be applied directly to the teeth – drinking it can only potentially be harmful to your body.
Milton is the perfect example for the rest of Halton on this matter – half of the town is non-fluoridated, half is fluoridated. And yet, there is no mention anywhere of a statistic or article stating how all of ‘Olde Milton’s’ teeth are falling out of their heads because they’re not drinking fluoridated water vs. everyone in ‘New Milton’ having a perfect dental record.
Our son was raised in ‘Olde Milton’ – tons of cavities. Our daughter was raised in ‘New Milton’ – tons of cavities. The fluoridated water provided absolutely no benefit to my daughter. The main reason for tooth decay or cavities: whether you brush and floss regularly, not whether you have ‘consumed’ enough fluoride.
Thanks for all of the comments on both sides of this argument.
What bothers me most is the fact that people instantly label the ‘anti-fluoride’ group as tin-foil hat-wearing, quack, conspiracy theorists without taking a moment to use common sense or look at the stats (namely, what they aren’t telling you — that fluoridated water has any sort of advantage at all).
I’m of the opinion that the anti-fluoridation movement is more mainstream now than ever. A few ‘quack conspiracy-theorist types’ — the ‘vocal minority’ if you like — would never have convinced two cities such as Waterloo, ON and Calgary, AB to remove fluoride from their drinking water. You have to assume both sides made their arguments and common sense politicians and officials made the correct (read: common sense) call in both cities.
Here’s hoping Milton Mayor Gord Krantz follows suit — I hear through the grapevine that he is very much anti-fluoride.
Also, nice comment from ‘Cutter’ — Milton is the perfect example for the rest of Halton Region — a real-life, real-time example of fluoridated vs. non-fluoridated water where, not surprisingly, no one has ever noticed or recorded any discernable difference.
What ‘thenay’ said above is perfect: in this day and age, we should absolutely be looking to keep our drinking water as chemical-free as possible. The money and resources spent on fluoridating water can be better spent on flossing/toothbrushing programs — ie. something that will make a real difference in reducing tooth decay and cavities. Now that’s a movement I can get behind!
I agree with this article 100%…. putting fluoride in the water MUST stop.
The fluoride conspiracy goes waaaay back to the 50′s where industrial companies needed someplace to dispose of their toxic waste which happened to be high in fluoride.
This waste was too toxic to be disposed of in the environment but the brilliant minds in the dental industry noticed some town in the middle of nowhere that had a decent record of dental health — coincidentally, their water supply happened to have a slightly higher level of naturally-occurring fluoride. And the brilliant minds connected two dots that never should have been.
As with all of these conspiracies, you need to “follow the money” as they say. Big businesses in the industrial sector are able to a) dispose of their waste easily and legally, and b) make big bucks while doing so.
And so, are we really surprised the Government and Canadian/American Dental Associations are so ‘pro’ fluoride?
The fact that there are many dentists like Dr. Osmunson now coming out against this practice is very telling. The rest of the article and comments are 100% bang on here — nice article and thanks for posting.
Thanks for your comments, Cactus Jack. That ‘brief history of fluoridation’ is basically what I was aware of as well.
The fact is, there are some practices we humans decide on from time to time with good intentions and it behooves us to go back and review some of these decisions as time goes on and new discoveries/findings come to light.
Remember when smoking was 100% acceptable pretty much anywhere (including the workplace) until the 1990′s? It seems ridiculous now — fortunately we as a society ‘got smart’ and started looking more closely at smoking in general and the health consequences.
I think we’ll eventually come to our senses re: fluoride (and ‘catch up’ to the rest of the world on this one).
In ten or twenty years, we’ll look back saying “we put WHAT in our drinking water for all those years?!”.
Well, fluoridation stays for the new half of town for the foreseeable future:
http://miltonsearch.com/2012/02/01/halton-region-decides-to-keep-fluoridation/
At least our reps Krantz, Lambert and Best voted against it but the Burlington/Oakville councillors were swayed by the so-called ‘evidence’.
Note that the statements above ascribed to “cactus jack” and “knave” almost certainly are usernames taken from the hawthorne village website, two users that are decidely pro-fluoride. Neither of the above statements represents their position… and while usernames are certainly not owned, their use above is a little disingenious.
In particular, I am “knave”, and I certainly did not write the above
Hi Snoop,
We noticed the same thing, actually. Our commenters are prompted to input their own usernames, so you’re going to get this sort of thing happening.
You’re right, those usernames are not owned exclusively by those folks across the entirety of the interwebs, but thanks for coming on to note there is no connection (in this case) between these views and those of the above namesakes on the Villager boards.