FAN Bulletin 1084

July 21, 2009,

I am off to the UK in a few hours but I had to share this exciting news with you before I left. Last night saw a huge victory in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The public health and dental bureaucrats ? at considerable tax payer expense - have been trying very hard for two years to pressurize the officials in Thunder Bay to fluoridate their water. Despite a meeting in which about a dozen “experts” including the notorious Dr. Peter Cooney (The Chief Dental Officer for Canada) took till 2:40 in the morning trying to persuade the councilors that fluoridation was “safe and effective,” the councilors said ‘No thanks.’ Clearly, they are less easily fooled than graduate students participating in the Public Health program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (see yesterday’s bulletin).

You can read below an account of this delicious victory.

I have always felt that the most likely country to reject fluoridation (of the handful of countries that still engage in this obsolete practice) will be Canada ? with, of course, enormous ramifications for the US and the other English speaking fluoridating countries. In my experience fighting incinerator proposals in seven provinces in Canada, I have found Canadian citizens more open minded and less gullible than in America and their decision makers more ready to listen to them.

The promoters of fluoridation in Canada know that the future of this practice in their country is on a knife edge. Montreal has never fluoridated. Quebec City stopped last year after 36 years of fluoridation. Only a handful of communities in British Columbia fluoridate and one of those stopped a few weeks ago. Calgary came within one vote of stopping the practice there and rumblings are being heard in Edmonton. Meanwhile, Ontario sports one of the best organized and best informed groups of activists in any state or province I have had the pleasure to visit. They have already helped to pull the plugs in three large communities in the Niagara region as well as Dryden. Now they are knocking on the doors of several of the remaining fluoridated cities there: including Hamilton, London, Waterloo, Oakville, Oshawa, Ottawa and Toronto. Their campaign has been greatly helped with resolutions opposing fluoridation from both Canadian Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and Great lakes United (GLU). The promoters know they are in trouble and that is why Cooney et al. put so much effort into trying to reverse the tide in Thunder Bay. Cooney made countless visits to this city over the last two years. He is reputed to have insisted on seeing each councilor one at a time. Meanwhile, Health Canada maintains that while they support fluoridation by providing information they don’t get involved in the political process!

Hearty congratulations to the citizens who provided the other side of this story and the councilors who resisted the pressure (and bullying) of local, provincial and federal health and dental bureaucrats. Now please read the article below, and enjoy this victory on the road to end fluoridation in Ontario, Canada, and the rest of the world.

Paul Connett

Thunder Bay says NO to fluoridation

tbnewswatch.com
July 21, 2009

Council says no to Fluoride
By Jamie Smith
http://www2.fluoridealert.org/Alert/Canada/Ontario/Thunder-Bay-Council-says-no-to-Fluoride

City council rode a wave of perceived public opinion early Tuesday morning, voting against a resolution to study fluoridating Thunder Bay’s water supply. An option to bring the matter before citizens as a plebiscite was also turned down.

“We can educate people on nutrition, proper oral care?those are the steps that I’m prepared to take first,” said Coun. Trevor Giertuga. “I personally don’t want it in my water.”

While Giertuga said calls and emails from the public were three to one against flouridation, Mayor Lynn Peterson said it was more like 10 to one. Peterson voted against the resolution due to environmental concerns and personal choice.

“My issue is 2 million pounds of (flouride) being washed through our system with only one per cent being consumed (by the public), “said Peterson. “The rest being flushed into the Great Lakes.”

Council heard deputations supporting the resolution from more than 10 public health officials from across the province. Ontario Dental Association president Dr. Ira Kirshen, Chief Dental Officer for Health Canada Dr. Peter Cooney and Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario president Dr. Frank Stechey all spoke at the meeting to convince council of the benefits of fluoridated water.

“I sit here dumbfounded that you don’t listen to the experts that you hire,” Stechey told council. “Your public health officials are telling you this (fluoridating water) is the way to go.”

Thunder Bay District Health Unit officials have been actively campaigning to get the city’s water supply fluoridated since 2007. Three officials from the health unit spoke to council regarding the safety of fluoride and the urgency in which it’s needed for the local water supply.

“The oral health of Thunder Bay’s children is poor and it’s getting worse,” said the health unit’s Cathy Farrell. “We’re well above red flag levels for tooth decay.”

City administration said the matter could still be put to a plebiscite if a petition can be signed by 10 per cent of the city’s voters; over 8600 signatures. The meeting lasted until 2:40 a.m. Council deferred other matters until Tuesday evening.