The group calling for an end to water fluoridation in Peel and challenging the longstanding practice in court, has brought fluoride and fluorosis expert Dr. A.K. Susheela from New Delhi to speak at a public event this week and convinced regional council members to hear a presentation from the professor.

Susheela is scheduled to be keynote speaker at a public presentation Wednesday (Oct. 12) in Oakville.

The event is organized by the Concerned Residents of Peel to End Fluoridation.

The community organization is chaired by Mississauga resident Liesa Cianchino, who launched the ongoing court challenge against the region and provincial government two years ago to stop water fluoridation in Peel.

Wednesday’s presentation, entitled The Harmful Effects of Fluoride on Human Health, is at Le Dome, 1173 North Service Rd., from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Tickets at the door are $20.

Thursday at 8:30 a.m., Susheela is also scheduled to speak to the Region of Peel’s Community Water Fluoridation Committee, which is re-examining the benefits and health risks that may come from adding fluoride to Peel’s drinking water.

That meeting is in the regional council chamber on the 5^th floor of administrative headquarters, 10 Peel Centre Dr. in Brampton.

Susheela, Executive Director, India’s Fluorosis Research and Rural Development Foundation, is billed as one of the preeminent world experts on fluoride intoxication.

In the court challenge initiated in September 2014, Cianchino claimed the Fluoridation Act and Peel Region are violating charter rights and the region’s artificial water fluoridation program violates the Safe Drinking Water Act and Food and Drugs Act.

The right not to be subject to medical treatment without informed consent is protected under the charter, Cianchino said in her initial statement of claim.

The legal action characterizes artificial water fluoridation as an imposed form of mass medication.

Furthermore, she and her lawyer contend available evidence does not support the need for water fluoridation to decrease tooth decay rates and the practice does more harm than good.

Cianchino is seeking a permanent injunction to stop the longstanding water treatment practice in Peel as well as $600,000 in damages.

The provincial government and Peel Region are named as defendants in the action.

In statements of defence filed in February 2015, the region and provincial government deny the dangers of artificial water fluoridation and maintain that fluoride at the safe levels maintained in Ontario has proven health benefits.

Lawyers for the region are arguing the municipality has not been negligent, infringed the charter or violated any act.

Both the province and region are calling for dismissal of the court claim and costs in the ongoing legal proceedings.