Dear Sir:
This is in response to “Doctor backs fluoride use,” a recent letter to the editor.
I am not a doctor. I am a regular person, that believes there are two sides to every story and two sets of facts presented to people in order for them to make their own informed decisions.
Firstly, stating that fluoride hasn't never put anyone in the hospital seems a bit extreme. It's high unlikely you will "overdose" from the fluoridation of water, but there are several documented cases over the last 30 years of poisoning and sickness directly linked to fluoride found in the water supply.
Beyond that, it's the long term affects that are to be a real health concern. Brain development issues impairing learning and memory, excessive fluoride build up in the kidneys, are just a few damaging results.
More and more communities in Canada are voting to remove fluoride from the drinking water due to its harmful effects.
They are also taking into consideration how this could impact oral health, and making provisions to "help families who can't afford fluoridated toothpaste, rather than medicating the entire population." This statement is quoted from the February 8th, 2011 edition of CBC news Calgary. An article outlining Calgary's vote to stop the use of fluoride in their water is at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2011/02/08/calgary-fluoride-city-water-supply-removal.html
Another great point in this article is the cost incurred by adding fluoride to the water. Why would we pay to poison our water when that money could be invested in dental or medical programs to promote health?
Fluoride is not only a by-product of industrial waste, it is a mutagenic compound, lab results have shown many compounds that are mutagenic cause cancer.
All I ask is that people review the facts. If I am not mistaken, people once thought smoking cigarettes wasn't hazardous to their health either.
Katryna Durdle, Terrace, BC