Controversial U.S. report cited as Regina revisits decision to resume fluoridation

UPDATE: Regina city council voted on May 2 to continue its plans to add fluoride to the city’s water supply in 2026. A motion to postpone fluoridation pending further study failed in a vote of 3-7, meaning fluoridation will proceed as planned.

Regina’s city council has set a special meeting for May 2 to debate its decision to resume adding fluoride to the local water supply, a move that has been on hold due to required upgrades at the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant.

Councillors voted in 2021 to resume fluoridation, but a member of the new council formed in late 2024 is looking to revisit the decision. Ward 10 Councillor Clark Bezo, says a study published in late 2024 raises important new questions about potentially negative health impacts, particularly for children.

Now, Bezo wants to once again put fluoride to a vote. His council motion recommends that Regina postpone its fluoridation project “until there is conclusive evidence there are no significant neurotoxic effects or other bodily harms.”

The motion adds that, “this proactive step will safeguard the health of our community and particularly that of our children.” 

The deadline to register for the fluoride special meeting, expected to be live streamed, is April 28.    

The City of Regina has held four referendums on fluoridation — in 1954, 1958, 1965 and 1985 — during which the majority of residents voted “no”.

In 2011, Calgary city councillors voted to remove fluoride from the city’s drinking water, but a plebiscite in 2021 will see its return in 2025. Moose Jaw and Saskatoon also fluoridate their water supplies. 

The decision to add fluoride to the water has been previously endorsed by organizations such as the College of Dental Surgeons of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Dental Therapists Association and the Canadian Dental Association.

The study Bezo refers to has created a significant stir for many city officials across North America, and has been referenced by leaders in Montreal and Utah, where fluoridation has recently ceased.

The August 2024 study was led by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report asserts “moderate confidence” in associations between decreased cognitive function in children and fluoride levels of 1.5 milligrams per litre of water or higher. Most communities that would have such elevated fluoride levels are the result of natural occurrences, not fluoride as an additive to a local drinking water supply. This represents about 0.6% of the U.S. population, according to the NTP report. 

Health Canada currently recommends 0.7 milligrams per litre as an optimal level of fluoride in drinking water.

The American Dental Association (ADA) has been highly critical of the NTP report’s peer review process, particularly after earlier versions of the report were abandoned in 2019 and 2020. 

The new U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has directly quoted the NTP fluoride report while stating that he hopes to end fluoridation nationwide. He has referred to the tooth decay additive as “industrial waste.”