The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Regional officials stand by the uafety and science of water fluoridation, but a longtime water operator, who has trained a lot of the province's officials, said it is no longer effective and should be eliminated from local drinking water. Thomas Schmidt, the region's commissioner of transportation and environmental services, and Dr. Liana Nolan, the region's medical officer of health, pre- pared the main response to can cems raised at last night's City of Waterloo council meeting regarding fluoridation. Waterloo is the only munici- pality of the eight local munici- palities supplied by Waterloo region that currently has fiuori, dated water. It is added in by the region in certain access points as it heads into Waterloo, and is found in trace amounts down- stream in Elmira and St. lacobs. Kitchener residents voted against adding it to their water in the 1960s, while in Cam- bridge it never got to the public vote stage. The City of Waterloo, however, has had a total of three public referendums supporting fluoridation, the last one com- ing in 1982. But critics argue that new sci- entific research shows that water fluoridation has links to conditions like hypothyroidism, some bone cancers and other related illnesses when con- sumed in too high a Concentra- tion. While the health effects are still being investigated. other findings from the US. National Science Research Council sug- gest the impact of fluoridation is negligible. Officials say fluoridation safe The Region of Waterloo invites you to ioin us at the following Public Consultation Centre to review and provide your comments on the proposed Grand River Transit New Business Plan (2008-2010) for conventional and specialized service. Attend and find out about: . Proposed initiatives to improve service levels and service quality . Proposed new rural service demonstration proied . Plans to create region-wide specialized service mam Drop in and also get information and provide input on the ranking of rapid transit routes and technologies at this meeting. BY Boa VRBANM; C1rurricie1itttit, If it has no effect, people like Waterloo's Carole Clinch. and Waterloo Watch, headed by Robert Fleming, said the region should Turn off the tap. They're concerned that lead and arsenic are being added to the water in addition to the fluoride. But Schmidt said there is nothing in Ontario's new Safe Drinking Water Act that pre- cludes the region from adding fluoride to the water if so requested. "Contrary to what's being said the Safe Drinking Water Act does not say you can't fluori- date," said Schmidt. “Ciearly you cannot add substances that unintentionally add something to the water that is toxic. "But there is also recognition that fluoride and other chemi- cals can have trace, and by trace I mean they truly are very, very trace levels of lead and arsenic if they are present at all." Schmidt said the contents of the hydrof1uorosilicic acid are certified by the supplier, and that most times lead and arsenic aren't even present in the chem- icals the region puts in the water. "If they are they are at such levels that they are lower than the drinking water standard," said Schmidt. "So there is no concern, and we are in compli- ance with the Safe Drinking Water Act." Dr. Nolan also said the main benefit of adding fluoride to water is to prevent tooth decay and lower the incidents of chil- dren having cavities. "Public Health supports community water fluoridation as an effective way to do that," she said. "We know from the balance of evidence ... that 1hlhTEilL00 Thursday, January 17, 2008 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. First United Church 16 William St. These events are served br GRT and are accessible for people with disabilities. lfyou require mute information, assistance to participate, or to access infatuation in alternate formats' please contact us at 51 9..585-7555 orvisit www.9rt.ca water fluoridation is a safe, effective and inexpensive way to prevent tooth decay in a way that benefits the population." This is supported by other agencies like Health Canada. the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Dental Asso- ciation. She acknowledges there has been a lot of recent research regarding fluoride and its effects on the body. but it's focused on people who are receiving high levels of fhroride in their drink- ing water and not the levels that are being consumed locally. As for the cumulative effect of having arsenic and lead in the body, the compounds could accumulate at a certain rate but they arent occurring at that level in the local drinking water. "That level is set so that it assures that exposure is below that and is such that the com- pounds won't accumulate," said Nolan. "Your body can continue to excrete it." But Peter Van Caulart, the director of the Environmental Training Institute who has been training water treatment opera- tors for more than a decade, said fluoridation is no longer effec- tive at the levels that it is being used in the water. He argues, therefore, it isnt necessary. "If it's not having an effect why are we going through the time and trouble of doing it," said Caulart. "Why are we exposing ourselves to the liabili- ty, and exposing operators to harm from handling it, "And why are we deliberately aggravating the condition of flu- orosensitive people in our com- munity. By turning it off we can eliminate all of those concerns and save money." tlt - IlVll VIA-ll? WATERIDO CHRONICLE . Wednesday. binary 16, m . '