“Fluoridation is a natural occurrence found in plants, soil and water, and the air. it can also be found naturally in some food sources. says presenter Brenda Matson, an oral hygienist.” .. then why the push to put it in our drinking water as well? Kind of ruins your credibility with that statement, hey Brenda? And are you talking about the same type of fluoride, because we know the type that is introduced into our water is of the industrial kind, right?

It’s sure telling to me and obvious who has taken the educated approach in the room and those for whom this is some sort of theological debate because they use baseless analogies to try and bolster their position, which unfortunately can be effective on uneducated people.

The factors that go into dental health are a little more complicated than cherry picking a community that has therapeutic fluoride addition and one that doesn’t and then drawing conclusions from very simplistic data like that without taking a myriad of other factors into consideration. Overall health, poverty levels, diet, naturally occurring mineral levels, consumption of sugary snacks, genetics, professional dental care levels, flossing & brushing habits are just some of the things that should be looked at if you want to make community comparisons. That’s why we leave things like this up to scientific studies “no” side and the evidence is in and obviously you didn’t get the memo; therapeutic fluoride addition to municipal water is a very effect method of caries prevention.

And if you want to rely on anecdotal information to base your “decisions” upon, why haven’t you considered that if what you say is true, then the vast majority of health practitioners are obviously part of a mass conspiracy to poison you, and everyone else, including themselves and their children. Time to grow up and start doing some reading of books that don’t just come with pictures.

I’m going to vote NO so I can stop listening to the nuts against fluoridation

Sine Nomine: You have made an articulate argument and personally I support the YES position for many of the same reasons you have outlined. However, there is one fundamental flaw to your argument. You have assumed that science and informed, evidence based practice would be sufficient to make an informed decision in the best interest of the community.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. That is one of the down sides of living in a democracy. Not that much of a down side if eligible voters are active, informed and voted in large numbers. However, at the current low levels of participation, small, special interest groups can push through their own personal agenda.

So, people, get out and VOTE. If we had record high numbers at the polls, then this ‘fluoride’ debate could put behind us.

In the 1950’s, the people of St Georges, Utah were told by the US Atomic Energy Commission that nuclear testing in Nevada was perfectly safe. After most families were touched by cancer, many losing children, the USAEC settled with the residents of ST Georges for $300,000,000.

I wonder if those who supported the testing called those who were opposed, uneducated nuts?

I can sympathize with Huh if he doesn’t want industrial waste added to his drinking water. For me, I’ll buy fluoride toothpaste and continue to floss without having to ask a municipal gov’t to look after my teeth.

A lot of smart people are stopping the process Sine! Why not add medical grade fluoride to the water? Smart people used to say smoking helped you relax and it doesn’t harm you.. What about the CDC report stating that fluoride is best applied to the tooth and that injesting it has little or no effect on preventing cavities. WHO and CDC both agree on that fact!

Really, do I need to drink the water that comes from my tap, water my garden & lawn, wash my car, or take a shower that has fluoride in it? Come on, if a small percentage of our population are the ones who benefit the most by adding fluoride to our water system so that it’s supposed to help improve their dental hygiene, then give out free toothpaste with fluoride if they really can’t afford to buy it.

Where are the medical and dental professionals speaking for the no side? Oh yeah, there are none.

@Kkarrman dumb analogy but you may suck people into it. Fluoride was discovered to help teeth much earlier than the Atomic Bomb was developed, over 100 years ago in fact. We have much of the junk science behind us on the issue but you are trying to bring it back for your agenda

@NoWay your ‘medical fluoride’ comes form industrial process and is used for the exact same things

@NorthernCitizen actually that is what some countries and even some Canadian territories are doing along with free dental care for those who cannot afford it. Start a campaign for that first I would say, then your vote doesn’t leave people in the dark. You care not for those people who benefit plain and simple. “Let them eat cake”

Obviously it’s a money making scheme for someone and they don’t want to let the cash slip away. All I can say is remove it from the drinking water that way I have a choice. Fluoride in the water is not needed in PG!

NH used a very misleading picture (their power point presentation)Search “baby bottle tooth decay” and you will see that exact picture – top teeth rotted, sometimes including first molars and bottom teeth intact. They stated that this is why we need fluoridation. There isn’t any amount of fluoride that would have saved those teeth. In fact, that child could have been put to bed with a bottle of formula mixed with fluoridated water. Education is what would have saved those teeth.
Look at the graph NH used to show that we have the highest percentage of visible decay in the province. Why is that when, as they like to trumpet, “PG, Terrace and Ft St John been receiving the benefits of fluoridated water for 65 years”. If fluoridation worked, the residents of the NH service delivery area would have the highest percentage of caries free and lowest percentage of visible decay, not the other way around. Doesn’t seem like we’re benefiting at all.
NH is bringing in the head of Health Canada – at taxpayer expense – to help with the YES side. NH should be using that money, and the money they’re spending on advertising a practice that clearly isn’t working, on DENTAL CARE and education programs for our children. Looks like those things are working for the rest of the province.

Everyone is an expert on fluoridation, regardless of facts or misinformation local “experts” might offer!

At least it gives people something to talk about, until they get bored or too lazy to check the facts themselves (or chose to check only the side they support and there are many “sides”). Even if local “experts” confirm they are not experts and do not “own” any of the literature, only offering, supportive fluoridation research; confirmed through documented FOI requests.

So whom do you trust if you don’t have time to do your own research and “local experts” don’t either?

“Trust me, I am the local expert, and I never get it wrong, because I don’t look at all of the literature you pay me to know about. I don’t have time!” Or Do you look at the many sides to the debate when you cannot make the time either?

Fluoridation and the failed legislation around it are complex topics. Many do not have time to do the research. The research is overwhelming on all sides, I understand. I continue to do and have much of the research (most sides including the pro side), some through ongoing FOI (because “local experts” and “public bodies” don’t want to release the documentation) and some through extensive reading leading to a reasonable understanding anyone is capable of achieving, if you have most of the facts and some time.

Is it reasonable for “local experts” to tell us: “Fluoridation is a natural occurrence found in plants, soil and water, and the air.” When they might actually be talking about fluoride? Or Did the reporter get it wrong?

Fluoridation, dumping hazardous waste into fresh water does not occur naturally. Unless you consider industrial activities, creating hazardous waste “natural”.

Part of the problems with the fluoridation debate, people will be hurt on both sides of the discussion and no one who cares, wants to get it wrong, again. What if there were other more effective options? Would anyone be interested in improving how we help people?

Fluoride use has a long history, those who have time and can use Google, might want to read some definitive work by Kaj Roholm, 1937, Fluorine Intoxication. A Clinical-Hygienic Study.

It’s not about fluoride being good or bad for you. To me it’s about being medicated through our public water system without our right to refuse ingesting it being respected. Forced medicating is a violation of our basic human rights. It’s my body and I decide what goes in it not some bureaucrat.

As usual I don’t understand we have the most cavities and we have fluoride in our water and we need to continue?
I have seen the baby teeth in PG. My nephew, it was from Apple juice and leaving the bottle in his mouth.
My nephew is from a wealthy family. Thankfully his adult teeth came in.

I think the evidence for it helping through water is weak at best. The risks really unknown but putting any of us at a health risk for thyroid and pineal gland problems is far too big.

My wife was diagnosed with a pineal gland tumour, it was the most teriffing few weeks I have lived through. It was shrunk with medication. Later she had hypothyroidism, not fun stuff.

She left pg and got much better medical care. I am not sure if it was fluoride or not. And yes this is anecdotal evidence. But to me a cavity is far less worrying than that and not worth the risk.

Make your own mind up but I will vote no.

“It’s not about fluoride being good or bad for you. To me it’s about being medicated through our public water system without our right to refuse ingesting it being respected.”

Bkcf34: Everyone needs to decide for themselves what part of the fluoridation discussion “speaks to them” for their own informed consent to have some individual and personal meaning. Alternatively, ignore it and choose to be part of the problem.

Who will provide the facts covering the whole issue? Northern Health and the City have confirmed they cannot and will not, because they are at risk for failing to follow the Rule of law, due diligence including previous Municipal Acts. Facts recorded in Provincial Hansard records and local City FOI documentation.

Letting strangers force you, any family members including their pets to consume any medication, without receiving your personal, individual and privately expressed, informed consent, is arguably criminal and insanity. The City, NH and the Province will not tell me who prescribed the fluoridation medication (hazardous waste) for me because no one prescribed it!

Democracy does not mean I give someone else permission to medicate me. Even a Doctor cannot force me to be medicated, without a Court Order. The Canadian Charter apparently protects individual’s rights, doesn’t it?

The fact that, in 1954, 1957 and 1996 to 1998 the City of Prince George, elected representatives, administration, legal and health advisers chose to remove everyone’s right to make a choice about being medicated is documented in provincial Hansard records. Google: Hansard 1998 Prince George Fluoridation, select P – Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, search word fluoridation (page 10738 – 9).

A “local expert” reported in a CKPG interview called “CKPG – Tapping into the Fluoride Debate (Video) that he is OK with taking away everyone’s right to choose to be medicated or not. He just knows better than anyone else does!

Does anyone think the Hansard records have any credibility, or its just more political rhetoric, used to create the Enabling and validating Legislation, No. 2, Section 43. Prince George water fluoridation bylaw. Legislation that removed your right to choose, “local experts” took away from you!

The people who promote this water fluoridation mass medication (side stepping the requirement for each individual patient to give consent first) could be the same ones who post angry comments to the news papers about how deeply offended they are by having to inhale second hand smoke from someone who was smoking too close to the main entrance of the hospital!

9. What does an “optimal” level of water fluoridation mean?

An optimal level of water fluoridation is achieved by adjusting the level of fluoride in the water to achieve the right balance between the benefit of preventing tooth decay and the risk of developing dental fluorosis.

10. Are there any health risks associated with water fluoridation?

With the exception of dental fluorosis, scientific studies have not found any credible link between water fluoridation and adverse health effects.

From the website of the Canadian Dental Association.

Water fluoridation causes dental fluorosis. When DF numbers (the damage) goes up, they recommended lowering the concentration, in other words it is still an experiment in progress. It is NOT definite science.

@bkcf34 and FluorideFreePG

Once again the argument that mass medication through water. Google bread and mass medication and see what you find.

That is correct: your cereal, pasta, cookies, crackers, bread has folic acid added to it, and has had it added for years. There is no naturally occurring folic acid – it has to be made in a industrial process and your body converts it to vitamin B, or at least some of it. Folic acid increases your risk of certain cancers, but anyone who eats bread has to ingest this because some people won’t eat greens, sound familiar?

Your milk contains varieties of calciferols which your body converts to Vitamin D. It is made in an industrial process and also is used in bait to kill rats in higher doses. It is required in Canada for milk and margarine, and before sparrow gets all ruffled, yes coconut, almond, goat, soy milks also are fortified with vitamin D (calciferol) just because some people won’t go out in the sun. Drink too much milk and cheese (plus other dairy and non-dairy products) fortified with vitamin D and you risk life threatening side effects and not just spots on your teeth. Sound familiar?

Google is your friend, most people will not get too much for their body to handle of any of these additional drugs but there are those who may. Once again as they say in Start Trek “The lives of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one”

Using a water supply for medical experimentation is only allowed with informed consent by each individual which is exposed to the experiment and the individual has the right to opt out of the experiment at any time and for any reason! (Nuremburg Convention 1948).

Vote NO! Opt out!

PG, your personal ideology about ‘informed consent’ is irrelevant to the fact that fluoride has been used for years effectively as a public health measure. It’s too bad there are people like you attacking the system designed to protect you.

People like you have been around for as long as fluoridation has been around, blaming it for a variety of things, of which no credible scientific proof exists.

It’s rather ironic that you accuse the ‘yes’ side of misinformation, when the main tactic of the ‘no’ side is to flood the public with so much misinformation that you can’t possibly respond to it all, and even to get people so sick of the subject that they vote against it just so they don’t have to listen to you anymore.

Vote with the world’s scientific bodies and the medical and dental communities. Vote ‘Yes’.

Stay away from getting any information from the website of the Canadian Dental Association! Quoting from it will lead to accusations of spreading misinformation! Obviously it is not a credible site!

Vote NO to opt out!

Daring me to mention Kevin Millership gets you this: According to #10 he is 100% right about water fluoridation causing dental fluorosis!

Disputing that fact would make you look like a fool!

I don’ t have fluorosis. Nor do most people. It is a minor cosmetic condition which very few people experience. It’s sad that you’d pay attention to a shill like Millership and not to science and medical professionals.

The Canadian Dental Association supports fluoridation, thanks for bringing them up.