It isn’t the Town of Lake Cowichan’s responsibility to medicate the public, without their consent.

This is why it’s refreshing to see that council is considering discontinuing public works’ practice of injecting fluoride into the water supply.

Although done at levels deemed to be safe, this injection of fluoride is redundant.

It may have made sense in the past, when not as many people brushed their teeth. Now that everyone with common sense brushes their teeth, with fluoridated tooth paste, we don’t need fluoride in our drinking water. Frankly, those who don’t brush their teeth, deserve to get cavities, anyway.

As for the argument that fluoride is good for teeth, there’s not much of an argument to the contrary. This is true. What is also true is that those of us with common sense get enough fluoride through toothpaste, and that all toothpaste labels encourage us to spit it out after brushing our teeth. Fluoridated water, on the other hand, is swallowed, barely touching our teeth, if at all.

Is this ingestion of yet another chemical really something we want? In today’s world, with increasing cancer rates all attributed to different chemicals our bodies are taking in, another chemical seems fairly counter-productive. Fluoride does occur naturally in water supplies, but this fluoride they’re injecting is not natural. It’s a chemical byproduct of fertilizer and aluminum manufacturing.

The cost to the Town of Lake Cowichan, at over $10,000, plus equipment repairs, is another strong argument. This cost is not only redundant for those that believe we don’t need fluoridated water, but for those who believe that we benefit from it. We’re not exactly benefiting from fluoridated water if we’re using it to clean our cars, water our lawns, and flush our toilets, now are we?

This item will be up for public discussion during the Town of Lake Cowichan’s November 22 public meeting at Centennial Hall, beginning at 7 p.m.

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