The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Calling it "almost criminal" to add the compound to drinking water, Coun. Bill Hanson announced Tuesday he will introduce a resolution next month to immediately end fluoridation. If the motion carries, council would cease the practice more than a year earlier than presently planned. Council has already voted to stop fluoridation once the new water treatment plant is operational in the late spring or early summer of 2012. "Given the research and the science of the day, to add [fluoride] to our water is to me almost criminal," Coun. Hanson said after announcing his plans for a fluoridation-ending resolution at the May 3 council meeting. That brought an immediate response from Blair Sapergia, a concerned fluoridation supporter who attended the meeting. "If you're going to say something like that, then shouldn't our new water treatment plant be removing the existing [natural] fluoride?" he asked the veteran councillor. Coun. Hanson responded by predicting that in 10 years, council will be mandated to do just that. When Sapergia asked why Coun. Hanson would wait 10 years if he is so adamantly against fluoride, the councillor replied that money is an issue in that it is "very expensive to remove fluoride." Coun. Hanson said he believes fluoride, when applied topically, is good for people's teeth, but he reiterated his position that the science around adding the compound to drinking water is unsettled. Old adage In this case, he said it is appropriate to follow an old adage: "When in doubt, leave it out." At least five councillors support last month's motion to discontinue fluoridation next year. Coun. Skip Martin was against the idea, based mainly on how the vote proceeded, while Mayor George Fontaine was absent. Coun. Colleen McKee was also absent but later announced her support. In order to carry, resolutions require the support of at least four members of council. Meanwhile, the city's uncertainty over how much natural fluoride is in Cliff Lake Ð the source of Flin Flon's drinking water Ð remains unresolved. Given that local testing has shown much higher fluoride levels than tests conducted by outside groups, the city recently sent a water sample to a lab in Vancouver. Municipal Admin-istrator Mark Kolt said the results have not come back yet, but when they do, that information will be provided.8/4/11
