The Ontario legislature voted Thursday to ban cities from removing fluoride from their water supplies.
Though the motion brought forward by a Liberal MPP is non-binding —meaning it’s more symbolic than prescriptive —it could send a clear signal to cities and suggest where the government is headed next.
Mississauga-Streetsville MPP Bob Delaney brought the issue to the floor of the legislature because Peel region, which includes his riding, has a motion on its book to remove fluoride form its water. The negative ion has been added to drinking supplies since the 1950s after it was discovered areas with more naturally occurring fluoride had better dental health. Stratford, Ontario, is one city where there’s enough natural fluoride it doesn’t need more added, Delaney said, but other cities need a bit more for the dental health benefits to take effect.
And Peel is far from alone in considering what Delaney called the “junk science” behind anti-fluoridization campaigns.
From Prince George, British Columbia, to Moncton, New Brunswick, cities across the country have opted to remove fluoride from their water. Dentists and public health experts in the Atlantic province have urged city councillors to reverse course in a statement this week.
The call follows the release of a study earlier this year examining dental health in Calgary, which stopped fluoridating its water in May 2011. The study found grade 2 students’ dental health declined measurably within three years of the cessation.
Ontario Minister of Health Eric Hoskins, himself a medical doctor, said earlier this year. “The benefits of water fluoridation are well documented and have been endorsed by groups ranging from the Canadian Dental Association and Public Health Agency of Canada to the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
“In fact, the Centers for Disease Control has called the use of fluoride in drinking water one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th Century,” he said.
Ontario legislature votes to ban cities from removing fluoride from their water supplies | National Post
Though the motion brought forward by a Liberal MPP is non-binding —meaning it’s more symbolic than prescriptive —it could send a clear signal to cities and suggest where the government is headed next.
Mississauga-Streetsville MPP Bob Delaney brought the issue to the floor of the legislature because Peel region, which includes his riding, has a motion on its book to remove fluoride form its water. The negative ion has been added to drinking supplies since the 1950s after it was discovered areas with more naturally occurring fluoride had better dental health. Stratford, Ontario, is one city where there’s enough natural fluoride it doesn’t need more added, Delaney said, but other cities need a bit more for the dental health benefits to take effect.
And Peel is far from alone in considering what Delaney called the “junk science” behind anti-fluoridization campaigns.
From Prince George, British Columbia, to Moncton, New Brunswick, cities across the country have opted to remove fluoride from their water. Dentists and public health experts in the Atlantic province have urged city councillors to reverse course in a statement this week.
The call follows the release of a study earlier this year examining dental health in Calgary, which stopped fluoridating its water in May 2011. The study found grade 2 students’ dental health declined measurably within three years of the cessation.
Ontario Minister of Health Eric Hoskins, himself a medical doctor, said earlier this year. “The benefits of water fluoridation are well documented and have been endorsed by groups ranging from the Canadian Dental Association and Public Health Agency of Canada to the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
“In fact, the Centers for Disease Control has called the use of fluoride in drinking water one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th Century,” he said.
Ontario legislature votes to ban cities from removing fluoride from their water supplies | National Post
