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10 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday December 5, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Health committee `re-postpones' debate over fluoridation By Tim Foran METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP An impassioned plea from a Burlington councillor was not enough to make regional health committee members postpone for up to two years the ongoing debate on whether to remove fluoride from Halton's drinking water. "I fear council is expected to make a judgement on evidence that only staff can understand," remarked Burlington Regional Councillor John Taylor at the committee meeting. Taylor, a former chemist, said council members aren't scientists and should therefore wait to make a decision on the issue until both Health Canada and Ontario's Ministry of the Environment have completed reviews of the issue. Committee members instead voted Tuesday morning to simply defer the issue until the spring, once Health Canada opens the subject up to a public consultation on the controversial issue, at which point the Region will host its own public information workshop. Health Canada has confirmed it will finish what it terms an update of its guideline technical document on optimal fluoridation levels in early 2009, at which point it will seek public consultation. However, the department already finished a comprehensive review of the issue in 2007. The current process is simply to update its scientific data on what should be the maximum allowable concentration for fluoride in drinking water ­ if it is used at all. The department has no plans to tell municipalities whether they should cease or continue the practice of putting fluoride in drinking water. "The decision to remove or add fluoride still remains with each municipality, in collaboration with the appropriate provincial authority," said a Health Canada spokesman. The Province's MOE said it won't be finished its review until the second half of 2010. That is too long for some health committee members. "I don't want to see this wait for two years," Halton Hills Councillor Clark Somerville had said before the meeting. Somerville last month made a motion to stop fluoridating water in Halton once current supplies of fluoride are used up and current contracts expire. The resolution was endorsed by the Region's Health and Social Services Committee but council deferred the issue at its meeting Nov. 19. But, Milton Councillor Colin Best said Monday council members didn't realize the MOE wouldn't finish its review until 2010 when it made its original deferral. He said they were simply looking for a couple months to read over all the statistics they have received supporting both sides of the issue. It's one particular study, however, that has caused some concern among Halton residents. In a report by Dr. Bob Nosal, the Region's medical officer of health, he included information on the oral health status of children in the region, collected using a `Dental Indices Survey' in randomly-selected elementary schools in each municipality over two-year periods. Oakville resident Diane Sprules included a statistic pulled from that survey in a presentation she prepared for council, which said close to half of Oakville's 13year-olds have fluorosis, a condition that results from over-ingestion of fluoride and which is marked by white spots on the teeth. Nosal said that's an example of selective use of data. "I fear council is expected to make a judgement on evidence that only staff can understand." Burlington Regional Councillor John Taylor "That...is information totally taken out of context," he explained. "It's a clear misrepresentation of the facts." Nosal noted that the survey was never intended to assess the effectiveness of water fluorida- tion in communities. He also said the same survey showed only 20 per cent of kids from the same age group in Oakville had fluorosis between 2003-05, while 41 per cent had fluorosis in the previous survey taken between 2001-03. "Clearly the real number would not have jumped around so much," Nosal said. Sprules admitted using what she termed the "most severe" statistic from the report, but said: "So what? How am I misrepresenting the data? It's (Nosal's) own public health (department) that did the survey. "Let's take the lowest (prevalence of fluorosis)," she added, noting the report showed about 17 per cent of 9- and 13-year-olds in Halton Hills had fluorosis during the survey taken 2005-07. "Should one kid in five have fluorosis?" The Health Committee's recommendation to defer the issue until the spring will be up for approval at the next Regional Council meeting the morning of Dec. 17. c h a rt w e l l c l as s ic o a k v i l l e l u x u r y r e t i r e m e n t l i v i n g Our gift to you this holiday season, our "home suite home" sale! Move in before January 31st and receive one month's free rent on a one bedroom Scarlet suite. Some conditions apply DECEMBER FREE EVENTS: Tuesday, December 9: Cooking With Spirits Food & Wine Tasting 7-9pm Tuesday, December 23: Christmas Concert ­ Tenor Gregory Cross 7-9pm Saturday, December 27: Open House - Live Entertainment, Refreshments, Tours 1-3pm 905-257-0095 www.chartwellreit.ca Ph Phone: (905) 825 8088 825-8088 www.volvoofoakville.com 180 Oak Park Blvd., Oakville, ON