Debate over Hamilton fluoride

What’s in your drinking water or what some people think shouldn’t be. The debate over fluoride is an old one but is still surfacing across the province because the majority of communities in Ontario add fluoride to their drinking water. Hamilton is one of them, and the debate on fluoride was alive and well at city hall Wednesday.

Hamilton City Councillor Brad Clark: “Do parents get the right to decide whether their children receive hydrochlorosilic acid in their water?”

Simon Kiss is with Wilfrid Laurier University: “The World Health Organization are of the opinion that this is a safe, cost effective and beneficial way to protect children’s dental health.”

There was talk of holding a referendum on fluoride but that idea was turned down. However, Hamilton City Council is considering a committee to look into the issue.
Fluoridation of our water is hot issue for parents, doctors and researchers. One side says the appropriate dose of fluoride in our water will prevent cavities and tooth decay while the other side says fluoride can cause serious health problems.

The problem some groups have with putting fluoride in our water is that there’s no way of monitoring how much of it people drink every day. Public health argues it’s a safe amount and it helps people who can’t afford to go to the dentist.

When you drink water from the tap you may not know exactly what you’re swallowing. Fluoride is a naturally occuring mineral, that can be processed into fluorosilic acid. For the last 46 years, it’s been added here at the water treatment plant in Hamilton before it makes its way to your tap.

Dan McKinnon is the Director of Hamilton Water: “So the target concentration that we look for is point six milligrams per litre is the recommended dose from Health Canada.”

Alarms will sound off in this control room if something goes wrong with the addition of fluoride to the water.

The water treatment plant is designed so that employees here don’t have to come in direct contact with fluoride but whenever fluoride and other chemicals are delivered here, delivery men and employees here have to wear this equipment to protect themselves.

That’s because people are warned to avoid contact with fluoride, but in the appropriate dose, Hamilton’s public health says it’s good for your dental health.

Dr. Ninh Tran is with Hamilton Public Health: “We know that less than half of people with low income have dental coverage, no insurance where 80% or more have dental insurance so it’s one of those things that are safe and effective.”

Gideon Forman is with physicians for the environment, a group of 6,000 doctors and researchers who say fluoride in our drinking water can cause fluorisis which is damage to the enamel. Forman also says fluoridation of drinking water can cause cancer, neurological, thyroid and embroyo concerns: “It’s uncontrolled, I mean, if you’re dosing a whole population there’s no way of knowing how much water people are taking so if you had a child for example who had the proclivity to drink lots of water then they’d get significant amounts of it there’s just no way to check it.”

Forman also says the province of Alberta is largely fluoridated. British Columbia is largely not fluoridated and the rates of cavities are the same. Health Canada says it approves fluoride in drinking water and says 25% of Ontario communities have decided to stop putting fluoride in their water.

Niagara Region stopped in 1999 and the Region of Waterloo stopped three years ago.