Lambton County council declined Wednesday to debate the practice of adding fluoride to local drinking water, a decision the mayor of Point Edward says isn’t even the county’s to make.
County council voted down a request from former Sarnia and county councillor Margaret Bird asking the county for the review.
“I’m not sure why this motion is coming to county council,” said Point Edward Mayor Bev Hand, chairperson of the board for the Lambton Area Water Supply System which supplies drinking water to Sarnia, Point Edward, St. Clair Township, Plympton-Wyoming, Warwick Township and Lambton Shores.
“It’s up to the individual municipalities to be responsible for their water,” Hand said. “It’s not a county decision.”
LAWSS and its members considered the issue in 2017 in a debate that included public presentations on both sides of the issue and the decision was made to continue adding fluoride, Hand said.
Then-medical officer of health in Lambton, Sudit Ranade, said at the time fluoridation of drinking water was an effective way to guard against tooth decay, provided it’s regulated properly.
Karalyn Dueck, current county medical officer of health, declined to comment on the issue following Wednesday’s meeting.
“Health Canada is completing a review of the guidelines for drinking water quality for fluoride which began in January 2024,” a spokesperson for the county public health agency said by email in reply to a request for Lambton Public Health’s position on fluoridation of drinking water.
Any change to Health Canada’s guidelines will be shared with county council, the spokesperson said.
Sarnia Coun. Bill Dennis presented the motion to ask for a review, in response to Bird’s letter, and was the only county councillor Wednesday to vote in favour.
“It should not be in our water system,” Dennis said.
Dennis said Montreal is stopping fluoridation and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the U.S. department of health, also is calling for an end to adding it to that county’s drinking water.
Dennis believes those who made the decision following the previous local review were “paying more attention to the political science and not the real science.”
“To me, it was not a political decision,” Hand said following Wednesday’s meeting.
“It’s a very hot button issue and there were experts presenting on both sides, and then the decision was made,” she said.
Hand said Calgary recently decided to reintroduce fluoride to its drinking water.
“In Sarnia’s case, fluoride was put in by a plebiscite,” said Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley. “I think since it came in by a plebiscite, it should go out by the plebiscite.”
Bradley said it’s an issue that “pops up every number of years” and agrees county council isn’t the right place for the discussion.
“It belongs at the LAWSS board and it belongs with the member municipalities of LAWSS,” Bradley said.
Petrolia operates its own water treatment system fed by Lake Huron and Mayor Brad Loosley said it continues to add fluoride.
“It’s heard both sides, but I’m very happy with what we have,” he said. “I think it’s working well.”
He agreed fluoridation is a municipal decision, not a county responsibility.
“We should be making those decisions,” Loosley said.
Original article online at: https://www.theobserver.ca/news/local-news/call-for-fluoride-in-drinking-water-review-rejected-by-lambton-county-council