USA - Region's fluoride decision justified
Region's fluoride decision justified
Posted 19 hours ago
The decision on Thursday night of regional council's Committee of the Whole in Niagara to vote down a motion to fluoridate all of Niagara's municipal water was a good one for the community.
As the Region of Niagara has 12 communities and only one full community which has received water fluoridation for over 40 years, its uniqueness to assess the impact of fluoridation was more obvious than in most communities.
Dr. Klooz, Associate Commissioner of Health for the region, presented data at a public meeting in July which revealed Welland children have higher tooth decay rates, at many different ages, after years of exposure to fluoridation in Welland's water supply.
At the committee meeting, local dentists made claims about the benefits of water fluoridation and ignored the local data. On average, compared to other regional children, tooth decay rates are up 27 per cent in Welland.
Many councillors voiced their concerns over possible negative health effects and the inability to control the dose of fluoride from one individual to another, considering there are many more sources of fluoride in our diets and the environment than years ago. They were also concerned about the fact the Public Works Department confirmed the chemical used for water fluoridation is not a pure product and does contain trace amounts of lead, arsenic and other contaminants which they do not have a process to remove, only dilute.
The issue of water fluoridation should not be surrounded by emotion and fear mongering about the possible outbreak of rampant tooth decay, but simply about new science that has evolved.
Modern medical science has brought forward new studies and awareness about adding synthetic toxins to our diets and the environment.
We need to educate the public about dental hygiene, good nutrition and to fight poverty, not throw more fluoride at the problem.
Cindy Mayor
Waterdown
Sensible
Posted 19 hours ago
The decision on Thursday night of regional council's Committee of the Whole in Niagara to vote down a motion to fluoridate all of Niagara's municipal water was a good one for the community.
As the Region of Niagara has 12 communities and only one full community which has received water fluoridation for over 40 years, its uniqueness to assess the impact of fluoridation was more obvious than in most communities.
Dr. Klooz, Associate Commissioner of Health for the region, presented data at a public meeting in July which revealed Welland children have higher tooth decay rates, at many different ages, after years of exposure to fluoridation in Welland's water supply.
At the committee meeting, local dentists made claims about the benefits of water fluoridation and ignored the local data. On average, compared to other regional children, tooth decay rates are up 27 per cent in Welland.
Many councillors voiced their concerns over possible negative health effects and the inability to control the dose of fluoride from one individual to another, considering there are many more sources of fluoride in our diets and the environment than years ago. They were also concerned about the fact the Public Works Department confirmed the chemical used for water fluoridation is not a pure product and does contain trace amounts of lead, arsenic and other contaminants which they do not have a process to remove, only dilute.
The issue of water fluoridation should not be surrounded by emotion and fear mongering about the possible outbreak of rampant tooth decay, but simply about new science that has evolved.
Modern medical science has brought forward new studies and awareness about adding synthetic toxins to our diets and the environment.
We need to educate the public about dental hygiene, good nutrition and to fight poverty, not throw more fluoride at the problem.
Cindy Mayor
Waterdown
Sensible
posted by Bill at
10:35 AM
1 Comments:
While Ms. Mayor is correct in that I did share information regarding decay rates regarding Welland children, she is incorrect in her interpretation of the data. Welland children, in general had higher decay rates (with the exception of 11 year olds) than other Regional children. The difference, however, is primarily due to the lower SES of Welland children. What the data suggested was that 5 year old children who had never been exposed to fluoride had significantly higher decay rates that other Regional children. The data also suggested that because of the gradient that resulted from exposure to fluoride, the longer Welland children were exposed to fluoride, the more the Welland children's decay rates approximated the Regional decay rates. In fact, the 11 year old children's decay rates were less than other Regional children.
David Klooz, BA, DDS, DDPH, Dip. Env. Health
Associate Commissioner of Public Health
Niagara Region Public Health Department
By
Dr. David Klooz, at 28 January, 2008
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