Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many people in this Assembly know, water management is a municipal issue but water quality, I believe, falls under a public health point of view. My questions will be directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services from a public health point of view.
With recent awareness regarding the concerns of fluoridation treatment in water, there have been a lot of pros and cons on this particular issue. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what public health is doing to review the quantity of fluoridation in the water that is being provided to our residents in the Northwest Territories and do they have an opinion on the quality and quantity that’s being put into the system.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to let the Member know that the decision to add fluoride rests with the municipal governments. The department is responsible for setting maximum limits and monitoring fluoride levels in water. The chief medical health officer supports the addition of fluoride to drinking water as a measure to prevent tooth decay. At this time in the NWT, there are only three communities that fluoridate their drinking water: Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. Wrigley has natural fluoride in their water. It is the municipalities that can make the decisions on fluoridization. The department just sets the maximum standards.
The Minister is correct that it’s a municipal issue that they actually manage, but from a public health point of view it falls under the chief medical officer quite rightly, as she put the issue. So then follows with the particular matter of how often the levels are monitored and what type of public education is provided by the chief medical health officer out there that people realize that fluoridation is added to their particular water and they understand the full gamut of what it means, whether it fixes teeth or helps defer decay from teeth or, as other people have talked about, it’s created some type of medical issues that people have to struggle with. It’s a publication point of view from a public health concern that I’m trying to raise.
Communities that fluoridate their drinking water must regulate fluoride levels regularly to ensure that they remain within the regulations set by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee on Drinking Water, which is currently set at a maximum of 1.5 milligrams per litre. The chief public health officer is in charge of approving the standard operating procedures for the sampling, testing, treatment and quality of water of municipalities, but it is the municipality’s responsibility to administer fluoride into drinking water and testing levels of fluoride to ensure that they meet the standards.
I’m not sure that the average person knows that there’s fluoridation in the particular water. I think it’s sort of an old-school approach that you either assume, or it is or it isn’t in water. How often does the chief medical officer review the results of the particular pros and cons of the value of fluoridation that is out there? Again, I’m not talking about the municipality managing or putting it into their system. I’m talking about the quality and public safety.
As I stated, it’s up to the municipalities to do this. The CPHO sets the standards and they do that. There is the appropriate jurisdiction. I can also add that the many governments and health organizations, including Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association and the World Health Organization endorse the fluoridation of drinking water as a safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay, which is actually quite a serious issue in the North. Community water fluoridation has been identified by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control as one of the 10 great public health achievements in the 20th Century.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Minister mentioned the WHO, because the WHO in 1994 recommended levels half of what the Minister had prescribed up to the level of what the Minister prescribed.
As we all know, toothpaste comes with fluoride and there are many other products out there that do pick up the shortfall where there is a gap. Again, I’m not talking about the management of an actual municipality from the injection system at the water treatment plant. I’m not talking about the governance of the council about them flipping a coin on whether they should put it in or not. What type of public education does the chief medical health officer provide the public to let them know that this is in their water and the potential risks abound by that process? It’s only a public awareness campaign. Does the Minister provide any information and if not, will she instruct the CMO to do this type of work?
The amount of fluoride that I indicated is the maximum amount and, as I indicated, the chief public health officer has set the standard procedure. It’s the municipalities that administer them and it is up to the municipalities to fluoridate the water.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
