CORNWALL – The case has been made against fluoridating the city’s water supply from an American doctor.
“I argue it’s a poor medical practice…to use the public water supply to treat people…you can’t control who it goes to,” Dr. Paul Connett of the Fluoride Action Network told council Monday night.
The doctor is a graduate of Cambridge University with a Ph.D in chemistry from Dartmouth College. He’s a former professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
Dr. Connett also suggested that many decisions from the 1950s were based on policy and with new scientific data “when policy is king, science becomes a slave,” Dr. Connett said.
“Do they really have more studies than we have?,” Connett said of the pro-fluoridation group – the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.
Connett’s presentation was cut off after 30 minutes because there was no unanimous consent from council for him to continue. Several members of the public were upset that the presentation was cut off.
“I take offense to somebody coming into our community and saying our health system is failing,” Coun. Andre Rivette said. “I’ve had fluoridation all my life and I still have my teeth.”
The doctor balked at Rivette’s suggestion that the presentation suggested the health system was performing a “genocide” by putting fluoride in the drinking water.
Dr. Connett said he was not attacking the health care system.
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, will make a presentation at a future council meeting.
Connett suggested he wanted to debate Dr. Roumeliotis, saying he has never had a chance openly debate a pro-fluoride advocate.