"Councilor Cameron Stolz made a comment "I drink well water, I have a few cavities, my kids drink City of Prince George water, they don't have any cavities, that's all I'm going to say"

That has to be the dumbest statement I've ever heard. Maybe Councilor Stolz also eats candy 5 times a day, drinks a flat of Coke a week and brushes 17 times a month, while his kids have impeccable dental care habits and eat nothing but vegetables.

To the main point though, even IF flouride had benefits for dental care, is it still worth it to put in the water system when you consider the other detrimental health impacts that it could cause (outside of dental care)? Or are we so focused on one thing that we don't even consider the big picture? Seems like we have some severe tunnel vision on this one.

"FDA toothpaste warning, if more than 0.25 mg is swallowed call the poison control center. (The same amount as found in ONE glass of fluoridated water)"

If we are putting 0.7 ppm (that's parts per million) of fluoride into our drinking water and that equates to 0.25 mg in a glass, somebody's got some math to explain.

I looked at the FDA website and could find no such warning.

It's mass medication without consent. This should be an individual choice- you put it in your water and I'll drink mine clean. Nuff said.

When will this town get out of the freakin' dark ages? If people choose to fluoridate they should be given the option to do so on their own. Vitamin C helps keep Scurvy awa. and Vitamin D helps keep colon cancer at bay, but I don't see anybody putting either of those in our water system.

In 1955 there wasn't a product on the shelf called Oral B.... a fluoridated mouth rinse.

I don't know why but for some reason this particular bone head maneuver by this City Council has broken this camel's back.

Those promoting fluoridation simply refuse to read the current research showing it is ineffective and dangerous to health. Go to [www.fluoridealert.org] .and read several articles.
Read the letter from Dr. Hardy Limeback ( DDS, PhD Biochemistry) --- Head, Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto entitled "Why I am now officially opposed to adding fluoride to drinking water"
He was the principal research advisor to the Canadian Dental Asociation for over 10 years in promoting fluoridation. His letter is an apology to other dentists and the public.
Over 140 Research studies listed, including:
Increased risk of bone cancer -- 13 studies
Lead, arsenic, radium contaminants causing toxic water -- 10
Link with fluoride and cancer -- 12
Fluoride causes birth defects -- 5
Fluoride affects the immune systems -- 12
Fluoride is neurotoxic (brain, nerves, lowering IQ) -- 11

Nice to see that we have the anti-flouride group being so quick to post.

Sheesh.

My dentist thinks that flouride makes a positive differance. Given that I trust my teeth to him, I respect his opinion on this. As such, I'm glad council kept the flouride in our water.

City council should not be deciding what kind of medications should be put in our water. Unless it is explicitly endorsed by the health authority, then it should not be added to our water on a city council decision.

This should be an election issue next election for sure.

The fluoride song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYnEer0KbNY

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient. Without Vit D, people get rickets - a symptom of which is increased tooth decay. Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth. Lack of fluoride does not cause tooth decay. Foods were vit D fortified at around the same time water fluoridation began. Yes, tooth decay rates went down - but there's no evidence that fluoride was the reason - it could have been the vit D - or some other reason.

After 60+ years of fluoridation in the US and 50+ years of fluoridated toothpaste and 40+ years of fluoride dental treatments besides all the other fluoridated dental products and fluoride contaminated food supply (including soda), tooth decay is rising in the US along with fluoride overdose symptoms. Up to 48% of US school children sport dental fluorosis (discolored) teeth from too much fluoride.

However, many US children are vitamin D deficient while none are fluoride deficient.

In fact, a study by Dr. Robert Schroth from the University of Manitoba reported that mothers of children who developed cavities at an early age had significantly lower vitamin D levels during pregnancy than those whose children were cavity-free.

Dentists' unions and associations work very closely with corporations that benefit from tooth decay. These corporations spend millions of dollars educating dentists, such as those mentioned in this article, to see things their way. Fluoride makes money for big business but does nothing for people forced to ingest it.

"In B.C., less than 4% of community water is fluoridated (3.7%)."

Therefore 96.3% of B.C. community water supplies are fluoride free!

That means that Prince George has the dubious distinction of being the last large community out of sync with the vast majority of B.C. residents and more than 2/3 of the world's population.

It also has the unenviable distinction of disrespecting a principle called freedom of choice, the freedom of choice of selecting one's own medications after weighing their advantages and possible side effects.

But, this important matter is not going to go away - soon it will be back, front and center.

At least the city should allow the citizens to decide this in a referendum. The city of Kitimat gave its citizen the democratic courtesy of a referendum just a few years ago. Result: No more addition of fluoride.

"It's mass medication without consent. This should be an individual choice- you put it in your water and I'll drink mine clean. Nuff said."

Thank you!

P.S.: You forgot to say that fluoride is also absorbed through your skin when you take your daily bath or shower - and that goes for little babies too.

I watched both presentations at City Council last night, and frankly the Safe Water Coalition made a very poor case, and poor presentation for discontinuing the use of fluoride in city water. I think council made the right decision to maintain.

Another reason to continue to rely upon bottled water, even though I know to do so is harmful to the environment.

Another reason to continue to rely upon bottled water, even though I know to do so is harmful to the environment.

I see this as a potential saving to the city coffers of over $70k. The only reason it was implemented was due to some shoddy report back in the fifties (we know about McCarthyism) and pushed onto the government by lobbyists.

Now supposedly we know better. Remove the poison from our water supply.

Question: If Stolz is on well water, is he actually a resident of Prince George?

Around 240 B.C., Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth by comparing the lengths of shadows in Alexandria and Syene. From Councilor Stolz's comments last night, I have to wonder if he would disregard the results of this scientific experiment because it wasn't conducted in Canada.

Dr. Osmunson presented very comprehensive data across 50 states of the U.S. showing that there is no correlation between fluoridation of water supplies and the associated population's dental health. Councilor Stolz responded to this data with a comment pertaining to the source of the data (the U.S.A.) and an anecdote about his own experience with well water.

I am frankly shocked and embarrassed at such a disregard for scientific research displayed at last night's Council meeting. As far as I know, the laws of Biochemistry are the same north as they are south of the 49th Parallel. Furthermore, a single data point provided by Councilor Stolz does not demolish the data based on millions of people presented by Dr. Osmunson.

Council says that they have decided to maintain the status quo, but is that really the case? With the recent decision by Fort St. John City Council to discontinue fluoridation of they're drinking water, Prince George is now part of decreasing minority, rather than part of the "status quo."

Sure, Councilor Stolz drinks Prince George water and has no cavities. So, shall we toss out the scientific method because the Councilor has good teeth? Sure, scientists may say the earth is round, but in my little corner of it, last night,it sure seemed to be flat.

Adam Hrankowski, BSc. (Biochemistry)

"we know about McCarthyism"

Yes. Everyone knows it is the belief that

1. Hollywood is a Communist plot, and

2. fluoride in the
People's Water System will convince people to buy movie tickets and go gaga over Hollywood stars.

I recall an environmental hearing which I attended where two Professors from Harvard were brought to town to testify. One testified on one side of the issue, the other on the other side of the issue. They both had access to the same epidemiological studies. They could not come to the same conclusion.

Surely, as a man of science, you should understand, even at an undergraduate degree level, that such is a common situation.

Also, as a scientist, you should know that the laws of biochemistry have very little to do with such studies that deal with statistics and epidemiology.

As a result, it is generally left up to administrators to make a final decision to stay with the status quo or move to what appears to be standard practice. They have to weigh one convincing argument against another convincing argument since scientists often cannot come to an agreement.

BTW, where did you read or hear that Councillor Stolz has no cavities? I would have thought that as a scientist your powers of observation and recall would be a bit better than that.

And, could you please look up the definition of "status quo" and try to differentiate that from the concept of "standard practice".

The people opposed to fluoridization in the water are well-organized and passionate freaks. Get over it! Its not McCarthyism or a communist plot. Its for healthy teeth. When my dentist tells me that when he goes to remote areas and just pulls teeth from kids with rotten teeth, because, to a large degree, they do not have fluoride in their water. I do not like to use the word "freak," but personally I'm sick of these persistently irritating people. I noticed the hoards of people signing the petition at the Farmers market.......not! Go back to the flat earth conspiracy theory, please!!!

This issue makes me laugh. City spends $70,000 to put it in for everyone, like it or not, or I spend $4,500 to take it out.

Either way, I'm going to pay, but I do have a choice. And I am choosing to not purposely ingest a proven poison and known to be detrimental to my health. So what if my teeth are strong, at the expense of my health. Guess what, we can still have strong teeth without Floride?

Hopefully the very few towns in B.C. which still fluoridate the public water have a lot of money set aside for the inevitable lawsuits which will come sooner or later from people with *strong teeth* and debilitating illnesses caused by decades of ingesting the chemical fluoride.

At one time smoking was advertised as a harmless, glamorous and sporty pastime!

Remember the Marlboro Man?

He died of lung cancer.