City of Kingston seeks public input on fluoridating water supply
As part of its 2019-2022 strategic priorities, Kingston City Council is exploring the feasibility of adding fluoride to the municipal water supply, and looking for public input.
According to Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Public Health, 73.7 per cent of local households surveyed in 2009 and 2010 incorrectly thought that fluoride was added to the municipal water supply. Although sections of the east end of the city used fluoridated water for a number of years, it was discontinued in October of 2008. The same survey from KFL&A Public Health found that 72.1 per cent of local households supported the idea of adding fluoride to the municipal water supply in 2009/2010, and KFL&A Public Health itself supports community water fluoridation “as an effective way to prevent tooth decay.”
Under City Council’s strategic priority to “foster healthy citizens and vibrant spaces,” the City is now looking into whether or not to fluoridate water in the future. As part of this process, the City is hosting a public survey on its GetInvolved.CityofKingston.ca website, as well as two public open houses. According to the KFL&A Public Health, seven out of 10 residents in Ontario have access to fluoridated water, including those in Belleville, Brockville, Ottawa, and Toronto.
“Please note that the municipality is neither for, nor against, fluoridation at this point. We are just collecting information for Council’s consideration,” said Lanie Hurdle, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Kingston in a statement.
In seeking public input, the City has created a fluoride and water fluoridation webpage with information on how fluoride works, the history of water fluoridation, fluoridation in Ontario, and some input from health agencies on fluoridation, all of which is available here.
Those wanting to provide feedback can complete the survey online by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 3, 2020, or attend one of the two upcoming open houses. The open houses will take place:
- On Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Rideau Heights Community Centre, located at 85 MacCauley Street
- On Thursday, Feb. 27 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the INVISTA Centre, located at 1350 Gardiners Road.
City Staff are expected to bring a report back to City Council with their findings around mid-2020.
For more information on community water fluoridation from KFL&A Public Health, click here.
After over 70 years of use, even the ADA sees that fluoridation has been a failure.
The Journal of the American Dental Association (Dye 2017) reports, “65% of poor 6-8 year-olds and 12-15 year-olds have cavities in their primary and permanent teeth, respectively. More than 40% of children have dental cavities by the time they reach kindergarten. “… there has been little improvement in preventing caries initiation,” said Dye..
“Childhood tooth decay is the #1 chronic childhood illness in America.”
Remarkable! Your claim comes from an anti-F interpretation of a study, “Trends in dental caries in children and adolescents according to poverty status in the United States from 1999 through 2004 and from 2011 through 2014” (Dye, et al., JADA, August 2017). Only fluoridation opponents and other anti-science activists would draw a conclusion about effectiveness of community water fluoridation (CWF) from a study that did not specifically measure or study differences in decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities or in communities where fluoridation practices had changed. The studies below demonstrate that when exposure to fluoridated water is actually considered, decay rates are lower in those exposed to optimal levels of fluoride.
A study that compares decay rates based on differences in lifetime exposure to fluoridated water:
~> Contemporary evidence on the effectiveness of water fluoridation in the prevention of childhood caries: Spencer, et al., Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2018
t is illegal for a doctor or a dentist to force ANYONE to take a drug without consent. They would lose their right to practice if they did so.
It is immoral for a local bureaucrat to force a drug on EVERYONE (fluoridation) and should be illegal
It soon will be.
fluoride is an element its not a drug
Mercury is also an element…
And like mercury, fluoride is a neurotoxin (at least according to the Lancet journal, one of the most prestigious medical journals).
no
I am NOT in favor of fluoridation of our drinking water.
sign on to FlourideAlert all the necessary research is there to show how toxic,unecessary and insane the “practice” of public artificial water fluoridation is . Ask yourselves where the chemicals come from. Research what HAPPENS WHEN THESE CHEMICALS GET SPILLED ON HIGHWAYS; but they are safe to add to drinking water?
LOL
Use a credible site!! not tis one!!
JR, DS & JB – Fluoridation is no more a drug than disinfection is adding a poisonous chemical weapon (chlorine) to the water supply. No doctor, dentist, local bureaucrat or anyone else is forcing “ANYONE to take a drug without consent”. The FDA regulates fluoridated bottled water as a “Food for Human Consumption”, not a drug, and there are no warnings on fluoridated bottled water labels. No evidence has ever been produced that proves fluoridation is a drug.
FluorideAlert is an anti-fluoridation propaganda site. Fluoride ions dissolved in water are all identical regardless of source, and the source is various natural minerals found in the earth’s crust. All drinking water treatment chemicals are toxic at high exposure levels, but not at the diluted, regulated levels in drinking water.
Fluoridation opponents have never been able to rationally explain why, if any of their claims of harm are legitimate, the scientific consensus of over 70 years continues to support fluoridation as a safe and effective public health measure for reducing dental decay and related health problems. That consensus is the reason over 100 of the most highly respected science and healthcare organizations in the world, representing millions of scientists, healthcare providers, and other experts, publicly recognizing the health benefits of water fluoridation. Search on:
> What Do Water Fluoridation Supporters Say? I like my teeth
The scientific evidence supporting fluoridation is also the reason the only support for the anti-F opinions includes a few alternative “health” organizations like the IAOMT, some activist groups like the CHD (with an anti-vax agenda) and some conspiracy theory fanatics like Alex Jones [INFOWARS] , David Icke [Son of the Godhead], Paul Connett [FAN] and Mike Adams [Natural News].
For scientific references that support fluoridation, search on:
> American Dental Association, Fluoridation Facts
> 2016 World Health Organization report: Fluoride and Oral Health
> Fluoridation | Open Parachute
> American Fluoridation Society
> Fluoridation Reviews and Studies – cyber-nook
> Fluoridation and the Scientific Consensus – cyber-nook
> Fluoridation References – cyber-nook
Most toothpaste is fluoridated.very difficult to find one that isn’t. Why add more to your system and your children. How much water is consumed directly from the municipal supply? I filter my water, many people buy bottled water. There are warnings to make sure young children don’t swallow fluoridated toothpaste because of toxicity.
actually no… TOXIC is consume a LARGE amount!!! Not in PPM!!!!
Sad that people who do not know are the most vocal!!
No, don’t put this drug into our water system! I want the CHOICE of whether my family and I use it.
Fl is not a DRUG!!!!
I grew up on a well that had naturally fluoridated water and had great teeth until I moved into town.
I would like a review of the scientific literature to be presented to the public rather than a bunch of random people yelling “it’s toxic” “it’s beneficial” back and forth at each other.
wow… someone who can actually think!!
Sadly… the best thing for Dentists is to have it stopped!!! Yet they push to keep it there because the science is there to support that 2ppm is a helpful safe level.
If it is stopped as it has been in other citys the proof is there that DECAY rates go up!!!
The science is there!!! sadly the loud get heard not the brightest!!
In fact, three recent studies have demonstrated an increase in dental decay in cities after community water fluoridation was halted:
~> Windsor, Ontario – Oral Health Report 2018 Update, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
~> Calgary, Alberta – Measuring the short?term impact of fluoridation cessation on dental caries in Grade 2 children using tooth surface indices: Lindsay McLaren, et al., Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, June 2016
~> Juneau, AK – Consequences of community water fluoridation cessation for Medicaid-eligible children and adolescents in Juneau, Alaska: Jennifer Meyer, et al., BMC Oral Health 2018
Not only do Dentists support fluoridation because the science is there to support it, but because they actually care about their patients dental health. It is unimaginable to believe that, if the anti-F propaganda was even remotely true and accurate, nearly all dentists, as well as the overwhelming majority of other health professionals and scientists continue to support fluoridation.
The city should not put a chemical in our water solely for dental hygiene. The family is responsible for this and we will handle it at our own discretion.
Thanks
aaaaand, dental surgery is the number one day surgery for children in Ontario – and we all pay for that in terms of health taxes so yeah. No thanks. Please fluoridate the water already! It works and it’s safe.
How is it possible that if you buy the industrial waste bi-product from the Mosaic Phosphate Fertilizer Industry in Florida (Florida’s number one polluter), and put it in public drinking water, it reduces tooth decay in low income children?
Even if agree fluoride reduces cavities, it is only a reduction of 1-2 cavities in a lifetime. It will NOT stop a mouthful of cavities in neglected teeth. But even if it helped, the new research is showing that fluoride reduces children’s IQ, increases the chance of dementia, increases bone cancer, amongst other deleterious effects. So the question becomes: IS FLUORIDATION WORTH THE RISKS? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30868981/
Fluoridated water also results in lower antibodies from vaccinations in children: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6190594/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31424532?fbclid=IwAR1JdJekbfsMnvk0x6V8qIWCBzb4crPM3_pSfzZxZSj89J38SccOZsoGNbo
Fluoridated water may also increase ADHD. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019315971?fbclid=IwAR1LVo0qTZ2DnQfgOtjOPAYUpUttn_gzBi3OT-L8vAC9vDaYhs9k2aVuNxY
“ researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and China Medical University in Shenyang for the first time combined 27 studies and found strong indications that fluoride may adversely affect cognitive development in children.” https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/
Approximately 61% of Canadian communities are NOT fluoridated including: 98% of Quebec and 99% of B.C. (2017 Report on the State of Community Water Fluoridation across Canada)
Even though 71% of Ontario is fluoridated, compared to only 2% of Quebec, the TOOTH DECAY rates for 2010 in Ontario are SIMILAR to those in Quebec, and at most result in only 1/2 cavity less per Ontario child! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxn3S08EN6OiT0FwVnpraklndVU/view?usp=drivesdk
97% of the Western European population drinks non-fluoridated water, reports the Fluoride Action Network.
Many communities in Europe have outright BANNED fluoride.
Despite this, according to 2012 data from the WHO tooth decay rates over the past 50 years in Europe have declined as quickly as they have in the U.S.
And fluoridated and non-fluoridated western nations have similar rates of tooth decay:
Canada: 39% fluoridated: 1.0 DMFT (decayed, missing, filled teeth) per 12 YO
USA: 64% fluoridated: 1.2 DMFT per 12 YO
West Europe: 3% fluoridated: 1.2 DMFT per 12 YO
From the 2012 WHO data.