Regina councillor wants to reverse 2021 decision to include fluoride in drinking water

Alexander Quon · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 06, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 6

One Regina metropolis councillor says helium wants to halt the metropolis from including fluoride successful Regina's drinking water. 

Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo has served announcement that following past November's civic election, helium wants to reconsider a 2021 determination made by the erstwhile metropolis council. 

"There is 9 caller faces astir that table, and determination is simply a beardown absorption to the past assembly connected immoderate of their motions that they enactment forward," Bezo said aft a assembly gathering connected Wednesday.

"This was 1 that I heard connected the doorsteps [while campaigning]."

Currently, fluoride is not included successful the city's drinking water. Although assembly approved the determination to bash truthful successful 2021, it agreed to hold until upgrades were completed connected the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant. 

Those are slated to beryllium completed by the extremity of this year, with the fluoride upgrade acceptable to beryllium installed successful January 2026.

"We truly person to inquire yourself, is this truly for the champion involvement of the full community?"  Bezo said Wednesday. 

The Ward 10 Coun. described fluoride arsenic a "neurotoxin" that children don't request to beryllium exposed to. 

Bezo said he'd spoken with experts connected the taxable who informed him of the risks of fluoridation successful drinking water. He did not supply immoderate of those experts' names. 

An adept sheet assembled by Health Canada successful 2023 acknowledged "a increasing assemblage of grounds suggests that fluoride successful drinking h2o whitethorn beryllium associated with reduced IQ scores successful children astatine fluoride levels that whitethorn beryllium recovered successful Canadian drinking water," but that there is "not a capable ground astatine this clip to urge a circumstantial constituent of departure and health-based worth for neurocognitive effects" of fluoride successful drinking water. 

The Regina metropolis assembly statement astir fluoride successful 2021 lasted astir 3 hours, with multiple provincial wellness organizations and experts connected dental wellness urging for fluoride to beryllium enactment successful the city's water.

Gerry Uswak, the past registrar of the College of Dental Surgeons of Saskatchewan, told assembly that h2o fluoridation helps everyone, including those with little socioeconomic status, who whitethorn not beryllium capable to entree dental care. 

All of the experts told assembly successful 2021 that determination is strong scientific grounds of the benefits of fluoridation, which see cavity reduction. That is important for the young to debar traumatic dental work, and the elderly to debar dental appliances that are costly and hard to manage, assembly heard.

But Bezo said determination is present a "strong appetite" from different councillors for the decision to beryllium reconsidered. 

Mayor Chad Bachynski, who was first elected to assembly successful November, said he's not opposed to revisiting the topic, but volition defer to the experts.

"If betwixt [2021] and present [Bezo is] confident that there's thing caller to look at, then we'll decidedly perceive to the experts contiguous and spot if their sentiment has changed since the past clip we talked about," said Bachynski.

Council volition statement the question astatine a future meeting. The day hasn't been determined, but it volition beryllium aft the municipal fund is voted connected aboriginal this month.  

Before council's ballot successful 2021, motions to adhd fluoride to the h2o had been denied oregon voted down successful a referendum 4 abstracted times successful the city's history.