A Safe and Sustainable Toronto

Welcome to my blog which is set up under the Your City-My City web site provided by the Toronto Star to encourage a public debate on Toronto's vision for the future.  My blog title tries to capture and share my vision for our fair city. I will be raising a number of action items and issues during the course of the debate and I hope to spark fellow readers to respond with their ideas,

My first item is Toronto's drinking water which is fluoridated with a compound that is a very toxic by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry. The purported public health rationale for adding this hydrofluorosilicic acid (HSFA) to our water is to reduce dental cavities. Is it safe?  Is it effective? Is it economic? Is it ethical? Why do other international class cities in Canada, notably Vancouver and Montreal,not add this toxin to their drinking water? Why do most European countries not add HSFA to their water supplies? What do these communities and countries know that we in Toronto do not know?

I begin with the economic aspect of fluoridated drinking water as the City of Toronto is struggling with a worrisome structural deficit which must be eliminated if our future as a leading international community is to be secured. City Council's Budget Committee held public comsultations this past week on ways and means for overcoming its structural deficit. I appeared before it to propose that fluoridation of our drinking water be stopped. Doing so would generate from $420.7 million to $760.5 million in estimated cost savings over a ten year period. This would be composed of:

1. $250 million to $361 million in fluoridation operations and capital equipment costs by the City, including $171 million in lead pipe replacement;
2. another $130 million in lead pipe replacement costs for owners of some 65,000 residences in Toronto; and,
3. $40 million to $269 million for some 50,500 children and their families for dental fluorosis treatments which are typically not covered by dental insurance plans.

I would be pleased to provide the details of these cost estimates to you that are in the March 1 presentation I made to the City's Budget Committee. Just e-mail requesting a copy to me at    g[email protected] .

The direct annual savings for the City will be around $36 million which represents some 20% of the cost reduction goal set by the City Manager's Office for this year and next. This is a significant contribution to returning Toronto to a sustainable financial status.  Moreover, it does not entail a reduction in the essential service of providing safe drinking water to all who work or live in Toronto,  In fact, our water will be both safer and higher in quality once it is detoxified and Toronto joins other leading cities in Canada and around the world in becoming fluoride free. What a truly wonderful place for us to live, work and play in!

In the coming days, I will address the other questions I have set out in this first blog.  I look forward to your comments along the way.

Comments

[NecktopPC]

Please stop Artificial Water Fluoridation (AWF) anywhere and everywhere in the GTA. And all across Canada too...you'd be better off for it.

See the very informative article, via the link below, that relates to AWF and, the obvious health concerns associated with this dumb idea.

The Link: Don't Go Near The Water.
http://canadiansforhealthfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/dont-go-near-the-water/

[NecktopPC]

Several states across the contiguous U.S., are artificially fluoridating their drinking water supplies, with toxic industrial chemical pollutants, e.g., Fluorosilicic Acid/Hydrofluorosilicic Acid (HFS/HFSA) - http://www.cleartech.ca/msds/sillyacid.pdf

This malicious malpractice, or premeditated act, whereby official governmental agencies, are intentionally polluting drinking water supplies and, with poisonous (SKULL AND BONES) industrial pollutants, is widely being carried out.

It is also a common practice; recommended by the FEDERAL government, and implemented by many provincial and municipal governments across Canada too.

[NecktopPC]

"I'd like to be able to add it in worry free".

TEAM 5 NEWS Investigates Fluoride Fears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zCfqoj_tC4