I’m from Windsor Ontario where our council voted six years ago to stop artificial water fluoridation as recommended by our very own utilities company. The 2002 Safe Drinking Water Act states, dilution is no defense for adding a contaminant to drinking water. The chemical agent most commonly used to fluoridate water (H2SiF6) is toxic, synthetic and contaminated with trace amounts of arsenic and lead.
http://www.nsf.org/newsroom_pdf/Fluoride_Fact_Sheet_2019.pdf
Since cessation the Cochrane Review concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to determine that fluoridation helped change disparities in oral health across socio-economic status levels, or that stopping fluoridation would cause an increase in caries. They also concluded the majority of studies that have shown fluoridation to be effective were at least 44 years old and had shown a high level of bias.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/25/fluoride-water-supply-benefit-unproved-tooth-decay
The CDC (NHANES) reported a huge leap in dental fluorosis rates (damaged tooth enamel from fluoride over-exposure) which now effects the majority of U.S. teens.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2380084419830957
In a meta-analysis, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health stated that fluoride may adversely affect cognitive development that should not be ignored. The lead author of the report stated, “Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain”
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/
Large scale, government funded, peer-reviewed studies from York University demonstrated that pregnant women living in fluoridated communities across Canada had double the fluoride level in their urine than in non-fluoridated communities.
There are now five human studies linking these same levels of fluoride in urine to lower IQ and ADHD symptoms in offspring…one such study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2748626
Health Canada and the National Academies of Sciences are currently reviewing the association of Fluoride Exposure and Neurodevelopmental and Cognitive Health Effects while several other organizations like the Kidney Foundation and Alzheimer’s Association have completely stopped endorsing artificial fluoridation.
Incredibly, against most of this backdrop of information, our new council recently voted to re-introduce artificial fluoridation and are awaiting new reports from the utilities company.
Why? Because of one very biased, non-peer-reviewed “report" conducted by our Health Unit which failed to consider confounding factors, made disingenuous claims of zero cases of dental fluorosis, ignored fluoride’s toxic and bio-accumulative nature, and used opinion surveys that were not randomized.
Questions that should be asked:
Ask your water treatment plant to see the NSF Certificate of Analysis of H2SiF6. Ask them why it is transported, measured and handled as a highly corrosive, hazardous and dangerous good and why it is illegal to dump it anywhere in the environment.
Ask Health Canada why they have failed to regulate this chemical as drug, nutrient or even a food-grade additive. Ask them how it can be labelled a water treatment chemical when it contaminates and doesn’t treat the water.
Submit an FOI request to your Health Authority for any peer-reviewed study that demonstrates fluoride is safe for the developing fetus.
Submit an FOI request to Health Canada for any peer-reviewed study that shows consuming H2SiF6 treated water is safe for thyroid health, brain health, or that it is even effective at preventing cavities.
Dr. William Ghali is the scientific director of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. He just reviewed all the science, ask him if he believes fluoridated water is safe for pregnant women.
Ask the authors of the new studies out of York University (Till, Green, etc.) and the editor of JAMA Pediatrics if they believe pregnant women should be advised to avoid fluoride exposures with the same caution they are informed about lead, caffeine, and even raw cookie dough.
Ask why the Ministry of Health in B.C. is boasting that their children’s oral health scores are better than Canadian averages even though they have virtually no fluoride in either their tap or well water.
Ask why states like Georgia (92% fluoridated), Illinois (98% fluoridated), and Kentucky (99.9% fluoridated) are still experiencing an oral health crisis especially among their low income households and still have above U.S. national averages in tooth loss due to decay.
Ask your water engineers how they can possibly justify this statement... “As a plant that serves the entire region, it is absolutely essential that we have a modern facility that produces the highest-quality drinking water for its customers, including the City of Regina.
You cannot achieve the “highest-quality” drinking water when you add a fluoride contaminant and all of its co-contaminants to it.
My own OB/GYN recommended I avoid fluoride decades ago. He was pro-active and protective. My children (now adults) have nearly perfect teeth.
Regards,
Donna Mayne
Windsor, ON
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
