WINDSOR’S COUNCIL VOTES TO END FLUORIDATION
Approximately 330,000
Canadians living in and around Windsor, Ontario will be drinking
fluoride-free water in the near future. After more than a year of
campaigning by local residents, and a 6-hour long hearing on Monday
night, the Windsor Council voted 8-3 to end fluoridation. Mayor
Eddie Francis also voted with the majority, saying: “A lot has changed
in the last 60 years…fluoride is not the be-all and end-all to prevent
tooth decay.”
This
decision will not only impact the city of Windsor, but will also remove
the fluoride from the drinking water of neighboring communities LaSalle
and Tecumseh. This past March, Tecumseh town councilors voted 3-1 to
ask Windsor to stop adding fluoride to the water. Prior to Tecumseh’s
vote both the Windsor Essex County Environment Committee and the Windsor Utilities Commission recommended that the city end their fluoridation program after citizens raised concerns about the additive.
This amazing victory was led by a number of well-organized citizens who established Fluoride Free Windsor (Facebook page), including Kimberley DeYong, Donna Mayne, and Ayesha Drouillard. Help was provided by Canadians Opposed to Fluoridation,
Heather Gingerich, and many others. These campaigners are an
inspiration, and great example of how a team can work together to end
water fluoridation by educating the community and local
decision-makers.
Windsor,
Tecumseh, and LaSalle will now join the growing number of Canadian
communities that have recently ended fluoridation, including Waterloo,
Calgary, Lakeshore, Kirkland Lake, Orillia, Moncton, Amherstburg, and many more. In
fact, according to the Director of the Environmental Training
Institute--which trains municipal waterworks operators—“there’s been a 26 per cent drop in Canadian municipalities using fluoridation since 2005.”
Clearly we are moving in the right direction. Congratulations Windsor!
Sincerely,
Stuart Cooper
Campaign Manager
Fluoride Action Network
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