— British Columbia already has the lowest percentage of fluoridated water throughout Canada’s provinces, with only 3.8% of BC residents having fluoride added to their water by a municipal government. As of November 19, 2011 that percentage dropped significantly when two more towns also moved to end their decades-old practice of fluoridation. Williams Lake, British Columbia citizens voted 2453-to-970 on Saturday to end fluoridation for their approximately 11,200 residents through a public referendum. That same day, Lake Cowichan, British Columbia residents voted 335-to-147 to end fluoridation for their approximately 3,000 people in their public referendum. Both communities now join 8 others in British Columbia that have stopped fluoridating their public water since 1992: Comox/Courtenay (1992), Squamish (1993), Port Hardy (1993), Kelowna (1996), Kitimat (1998), Kamloops (2001), Burns Lake (2003) and Golden (2005). Remarkably, Vancouver discontinued fluoridation in the early 1960′s. Reasons cited for ending BC’s fluoridation include : Increased costs to continue adding fluoride to the water. Risk to municipal employees handling the product. Availability of fluoride in many dental hygiene and food products. Health and environmental concerns about fluoridation. Citizen and advocacy groups calling for an end to fluoridation.
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