*UPDATE: As of December 12, Halifax Water announced that fluoridation of drinking water resumed at the J. Douglas Kline (Pockwock Lake) water supply plant.
Halifax Water says it should have publicly communicated better with customers about long-term gaps in the addition of fluoride at two water supply plants over the last four years.
Intermittent leaks have plagued the J. Douglas Kline (Pockwock Lake) water supply plant since 2021, creating safety risks around the storage and use of fluoride, which remains on hold, the utility announced on November 29.
“We take feedback very seriously and want to assure customers and the public that they will be made aware of these interruptions moving forward,” the utility stated in a notice to customers. “These were operational decisions based on independent equipment issues at both water supply plants that had to be repaired or replaced at each facility.”
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At the Lake Major water supply plant, Halifax Water revealed that the system has not had fluoride in it since 2020, when the system was nearing the end of its useful life. Since then, plans to resume fluoridation have been complicated by significant changes in lake water chemistry impacted by severe rainfall events. The changes required the utility to use additional chemicals in the treatment process to meet compliance obligations.
But that has faced challenges too. There is now a space constraint at the supply plant to accommodate more chemical storage tanks to ensure an uninterrupted supply for treatment.
“Halifax Water is committed to meeting our regulatory commitments to provide safe drinking water. However, we also understand that we need to improve our communications related to longer-term interruptions of our fluoridation process with our customers, our Board of Commissioners and the Municipality. We will work to address these gaps moving forward,” stated the Acting General Manager of Halifax Water, Kenda MacKenzie, in an announcement.
While fluoride may return to the Pockwock Lake plant by the end of 2024, the situation is more complicated at the Lake Major plant. Halifax Water says that based on current plans, updated fluoride equipment will be included in a more extensive scope of upgrades that will take place in the next five to seven years.
“From an operations perspective, Halifax Water intends to resume the fluoridation process when systems are ready and it is safe to do so. We will advise our customers when this occurs,” the utility stated in a notice to customers.
In its announcement, Halifax Water noted that the addition of fluoride is not a regulatory requirement. The utility says it does report all changes in drinking water treatment, including fluoridation, to the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change when they occur, as required by its Approval to Operate permit.
Halifax Water has added fluoride at some water supply plants since the mid-1950s. The six smaller systems operated by the utility have never included fluoride in the treatment process.
Halifax needs to rethink introducing fluoride in water supplies based on the most current evidence of harm and the fact it provides no significant benefit in reducing tooth decay.
Here are the facts:
Cochrane Collaboration Systematic Review, the 2024 LOTUS Retrospective Cohort Study, conducted
over 10 years and involving more than 6 million participants, and the 2022 CATFISH prospective
Longitudinal Cohort Study, all show that the effectiveness of fluoridation in reducing dental caries is closer to 2% and certainly less than 4%. Moreover, contrary to claims, disadvantaged populations do not benefit more than the rich.
– The U.S. Northern District of California Federal Court: After a seven-year science-based lawsuit,
ruled that fluoridation “poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children,
” and ordered the EPA to take measures to eliminate this risk.” (Sept. 25, 2024)
– The National Toxicology Program (NTP): The USA’s highest-level scientific review committee
concluded higher water fluoride concentrations “are consistently associated with lower IQ in
children.”
” The NTP cited that 18 of the 19 highest quality studies link higher fluoride with lower
IQs, several at levels in fluoridated water. (August 21, 2024)
– Dr. Linda Birnbaum, PhD, retired NTP director: “It is time to protect kids’ developing brains from
fluoride.” (Environmental Health News, October 7, 2020)
– Dr. Dimitri Christakis, MD, pediatrician, editor of the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) Pediatrics: “I would not have my wife drink fluoridated water if she were
pregnant.” (Washington Post, August 20, 2019)
– Dr. Hardy Limeback, PhD, DDS, former president of the Canadian Association of Dental
Research and former Head of Preventative Dentistry at the University of Toronto and one of
twelve experts on the US National Research Council’s fluoride report (2006): “The evidence that
fluoridation is more harmful than beneficial is now overwhelming.” (Personal communication
September 27, 2024)
– American Academy of Environmental Medicine: “Fluoridation has been called one of the ten
great public health achievements. Fluoridation is more likely one of the ten most dangerous public
health practices in this country and in the world.” (website accessed October 2, 2024)
CDC named fluoridation of drinking water one of 10 great public health interventions of the 20th century because of the dramatic decline in cavities since community water fluoridation started in 1945.
On the first item, thecatfish study – it was only 5 years not 10 as claimed, and they said this period was too short.
It was an outlier from the many studies that showed much larger benefits from fluoridation.
One of the many scientific reviews of the catfish study and the study itself reported, “The prevalence of caries and the impact of water fluoridation was much smaller than previous studies have reported. The intervention was effective in the birth cohort group; however, the importance of the modest absolute reduction in caries (into dentine) needs to be considered against the use of other dental caries preventative measures”.
It was one study in cumbria, where caries was already low.
It had major limitations, “The low response rates to the questionnaires reduced their value for generalisations. The observed numbers of children with decay and the postulated differences between the groups were far smaller than anticipated and, consequently, the power of the study was affected (i.e. increasing the uncertainty indicated in the confidence intervals
I could review more of the claims here, but as the above reports, the major study here was not major, and cherry-picked as an outlier that showed small benefit, compared to the many before that showed larger benefits as the authors themselves reported.
Finally the last of the list, The American Academy of Environmental Medicine is more a fringe group of clinicians – it is not part of the American Medical Association “The AEM has been cited as an questionable organization by Quackwatch for promoting discredited diagnoses like multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic candidiasis, and toxic mold syndrome” as well as going against the scientific evidence on fluoridation.