Regina Councillor Wants City to Reconsider Putting Fluoride in Drinking Water

A woman fills a glass with water from a tap in this undated file photo. SHTTEFAN/Unsplash

A City of Regina councillor has asked the city to reconsider its decision to add fluoride to the drinking water starting next year, saying its safety should be reviewed.

Clark Bezo put forward a motion at the March 5 council meeting to postpone adding fluoride to the water supply until there is “conclusive evidence” that fluoride has “no significant neurotoxic effects or other bodily harms.” The motion will be discussed at an upcoming meeting.

The motion says that postponing the project would be a “proactive step” to “safeguard the health of our community and particularly that of our children.”

The decision to add fluoride to the water in Regina was approved in 2021, but implementation was delayed until upgrades were completed on the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant. That project is scheduled to be completed at the end of year, and fluoride introduced in January 2026.

Bezo said fluoridation is an issue he heard on the campaign trail leading up to Regina’s municipal election on Nov. 13, 2024.

“A lot of concerns that I heard right at the doorstep was about the fluoride in the drinking water,” he told The Epoch Times in an interview.

He said information provided on the Health Canada website presents both sides of the fluoridation issue, indicating its complexity.

“They do have different articles on their own websites saying positives, and then also you find other articles that have the negative consequences on fluoridation,” Bezo said, saying in-depth research is needed from a variety of sources.

An expert panel assembled by Health Canada in 2023 said “a growing body of evidence suggests that fluoride in drinking water may be associated with reduced IQ scores in children at fluoride levels that may be found in Canadian drinking water.” However, the panel came to the conclusion that there is “not a sufficient basis at this time to recommend a specific point of departure and health-based value for neurocognitive effects” of fluoride in drinking water.

While other cities have put the issue to a vote by residents, Bezo said any discussion of a plebiscite should wait until council discusses and votes on the matter after its upcoming budget discussions.

Last year, Montreal area mayors and councillors voted to end water fluoridation at two West Island drinking water plants, pointing to low human consumption of the drinking water, with about one percent of residents consuming the water, according to the city’s water department. It also said fluoride had a corrosive effect on city infrastructure.

While Montreal voted to remove fluoride, Calgary recently voted to add it back to its water system.

Calgary first added fluoride to its water supply in 1991, then removed it in 2011. When a local plebiscite in 2021 resulted in 62 percent support for fluoridation, city council voted to reintroduce it. The city said it is installing equipment at its two water treatment plants and will provide an update in March on the implementation date.

In the U.S., a federal judge ruled last year that fluoride levels set by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) poses an “unreasonable risk” of lowering children’s IQ levels.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said his decision did not “conclude with certainty” that fluoride is “injurious to public health,” but found an “unreasonable risk of such injury” sufficient to require the EPA to “engage with a regulatory response,” without specifying what that response should be.

Matt McGregor contributed to this article.