Canada - Why not provide evidence if fluoridation works?

Peterborough This Week

By This Week 

To the editor:

A Canadian Press article on Wednesday Oct. 5 highlights a claim by a Moncton New Brunswick dentist that she has seen a “startling change” in tooth decay in her practice in that city since a moratorium on fluoridation began almost five years ago.  Suzanne Drapeau-McNally offered no study or data to back her claim: “I just know that it is beneficial.”  

Now a vote, organized by Mississauga-Streetsville MPP Bob Delaney, has passed in the Ontario Legislature to “ban cities from removing fluoride from their water supplies.”

The vote is non-binding, so it has no effect other than to prepare the public for the idea, in the event that legislation is introduced.

The promotion of fluoridation is becoming more desperate. In the face of  more Ontario communities voting to end the practice, and a lawsuit in Peel Region, the promoters are realizing that emotional appeals and force provide their only hope to maintain a practice that most of the world, including much of Canada, have rejected.  

The irony is that those opposed are often referred to as anti-science or, in the words of Mr. Delaney, “hysterical” and  “nutheads and fanatics.”

If  fluoridation truly is safe and effective, why are we seeing actions by the promoters that are not related to simply presenting the public with  the evidence?

David Green

Rocky Ridge Water

Peterborough