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Calgary Herald

Opinion: Fluoride finally returns after many stops and starts

As water fluoridation returns to Calgary on June 30, residents should be proud and optimistic. Article content This public health measure is backed by 80 years of research confirming its effectiveness and safety. Over time, we will see a decline in dental decay across Calgary, Chestermere, Airdrie, Strathmore, parts of Foothills County, and Tsuut'ina Nation — all of which receive Calgary-treated water. Article content Article content Article content Calgarians voted for fluoridation in 1989 and again in 1998. Yet, in 2011, Calgary city council removed it after being bombarded with false and misleading claims. The consequences were soon evident. Dentists began seeing cavities earlier in children, often requiring general anesthesia because they could not co-operate with the dentist. Article content Article content In 2016, a study led by Dr. Lindsay McLaren at the University of Calgary found that two years after fluoridation ceased, Grade 2 children in Calgary had significantly more tooth decay than those in fluoridated Edmonton. Article content She repeated the study in 2021. By then, Calgary's Grade 2 children had never lived with fluoridated water. The contrast was starker — Calgary's rates had worsened; Edmonton's remained stable. Article content In 2017, a despairing Calgary dentist implored us to return fluoridation. We formed Calgarians for Kids' Health, a volunteer group. Article content Article content When councillors we met with refused to reinstate fluoridation, we urged city council to send the issue back to voters. They agreed. Our Fluoride Yes campaign in the 2021 municipal election was led by volunteers and funded mostly by local medical and dental professionals and businesspeople. Article content We were outspent. A loophole in Alberta municipal election law allowed foreign funding for plebiscite campaigns. While we turned away all out-of-province donations, the No campaign did not. Article content Based on visible expenditures, it spent about three times more than we could, including paying Canada Post to distribute flyers filled with misinformation to 410,000 Calgary homes. Article content A prominent 'no' donor was the U.S.-based Fluoride Action Network, funded and promoted by Joseph Mercola, an 'alternative medicine' marketer who encourages fluoridation fear and sells water filters. Without this foreign-funded misinformation, the Yes vote might have been even higher.