After 14 years with out fluoride in its water provide, Calgary will formally reintroduce the mineral on Monday, June 30.
“Beginning Monday, June 30, fluoride shall be reintroduced into Calgary’s consuming water,” the Metropolis of Calgary’s Water Companies division confirmed in an announcement.
“Well being Canada, Alberta Well being, and Alberta Well being Companies assist the apply of Group Water Fluoridation as a secure and efficient public well being measure to forestall and scale back tooth decay, particularly these most weak and with out entry to dental care,” the assertion added.
The transfer follows a 2021 plebiscite throughout Calgary’s municipal election, by which 62 per cent of voters supported reintroducing fluoride to the town’s water system. Metropolis council subsequently directed administration to proceed with the mandatory infrastructure upgrades at Calgary’s two water therapy crops.
“Calgary confirmed us the way it might be executed.” Montreal doctor Dr. Christopher Labos.
The choice was backed by analysis. In August 2021, the College of Calgary’s Cumming Faculty of Drugs printed a research evaluating dental well being outcomes amongst Grade 2 college students in Calgary and Edmonton. The research discovered that 64.8 per cent of Calgary kids had a number of cavities of their child tooth, in comparison with 55.1 per cent in Edmonton, the place water stays fluoridated. The findings constructed on earlier analysis suggesting a hyperlink between fluoride removing and elevated charges of early childhood caries.
Calgary and fluoride: A timeline
- 1957, 1961, 1966, 1971 – Calgarians vote in opposition to fluoridation in 4 plebiscites.
- 1989 – A fifth plebiscite leads to assist for fluoridation.
- 1991 – Fluoride is added to Calgary’s water at 1.0 mg/L.
- 1998–1999 – Following a overview, the extent is decreased to 0.7 mg/L. A plebiscite throughout this era reveals 55 per cent assist.
- 2011 – Metropolis council votes to discontinue fluoridation.
- 2021 – A plebiscite sees 62 per cent assist for reinstating fluoride.
(Timeline from Metropolis of Calgary)
A broader debate
Calgary’s expertise is more and more cited in broader debates over water fluoridation. In the USA, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal critic of fluoridation, has known as it “industrial waste” and linked it to well being issues, together with decreased IQ in kids. In April, Florida grew to become the second U.S. state to ban water fluoridation, following Utah.
Nevertheless, a 2024 research printed in JAMA Well being Discussion board warned that eradicating fluoride from group water methods may result in elevated tooth decay in kids and an estimated $9.8 billion in further dental prices over 5 years. The research cited Calgary for example of a metropolis that reinstated fluoridation in response to rising dental illness after its removing in 2011.
Learn associated hyperlink: Fluoride: When, the place, why
Learn associated hyperlink: Right here’s the place Canadian consultants stand on fluoridating consuming water
Classes for Montreal
Calgary’s case has additionally been referenced in Montreal, the place the town started phasing out fluoridation on Nov. 21, 2024, on the Pointe-Claire and Dorval water therapy crops. The choice, made by the Agglomeration Council, will stay in impact till current fluoride provides are depleted.
“We’ve had fluoride out of the water for over 10 years. That was 10 years we may observe in opposition to different cities,” Calgary metropolis councillor Gian-Carlo Carra advised the Montreal Gazette in a June 8 interview. “The info reveals that it helps.”
Montreal doctor and science communicator Dr. Christopher Labos, who wrote concerning the subject previous to the town’s determination, echoed that sentiment. “Many individuals in Montreal aren’t conscious of it, and sadly the explanations for eradicating fluoride have been largely monetary and presumably politically motivated by occasions south of the border,” he advised Oral Well being Group.
Kennedy gave Montreal citizen ‘ethical assist’
A March 2024 report from Montreal’s water division famous that the reconsideration of fluoridation started with a 2020 citizen petition led by Ray Coelho, a former candidate for the now-defunct Canadian Nationalist Social gathering. CBC reported in November that Coelho mentioned he had spoken with Kennedy a number of instances, and that the U.S. well being secretary congratulated him in a textual content message after the town’s plan grew to become public the earlier month.
“He gave me ethical assist, which is nice,” the CBC quote Coelho as saying.
In the meantime, Lachine borough Mayor Maja Vodanovic advised Oral Well being Group that the choice to finish fluoridation on the Dorval and Pointe-Claire crops—serving about 5 per cent of Montreal’s water provide—was “solely guided by operational and financial elements.”
At the moment, the one municipality in Quebec that fluoridates its water is Saint-Georges, within the Chaudière-Appalaches area, serving about 33 000 individuals.
Regardless of Montreal’s stance, Labos stays optimistic. “Calgary confirmed us the way it might be executed,” he mentioned. “Each Montreal and Quebec’s provincial public well being departments assist fluoridation, and Quebec has a program to subsidize its implementation. It’ll merely take the political will to make it occur.”