FLUORIDATION - No Happy Medium
3,560 views · Published 5 December 2008 · 10:29 · Indexed 10 October 2026
Channel: DianeDi · 2008 · Education
Broadcast Date: Jan. 7, 1958 Ever since the 1940's when universal water fluoridation was first considered, the issue has deeply divided Canadians. You either saw fluoride as a necessary public service, providing universal dental care to both rich and poor or a repugnant communist plot to take away our basic rights. This rift is evident in this heated exchange between the great fluoride opponent broadcaster Gordon Sinclair and Front Page Challenge mystery guest, Dr. Wesley Dunn, chairman of the fluoridation committee for the Health League of Canada and editor of the Canadian Dental Journal. Rat and bug poison! Toronto-based broadcaster Gordon Sinclair is vehemently against adding "poison" to our public drinking water. City of Toronto had approved fluoridation in 1955, however protests and outcries, many spearheaded by Sinclair, means actual fluoridation of Toronto's water supply doesn't take place until years later. Sinclair fervently objects to being forced to take medication he doesn't want. He sees it as a gross infringement of his basic rights. • Despite Sinclair's crusading efforts Toronto begins to fluoridate its water supply in 1963. It follows years of tumultuous legal battles and a 1962 plebiscite which results in a hair-splitting vote of 50.1 percent in favour and 49.9 percent opposed. Digital Archives | Feb 25, 1959 | 4:41 Gordon Sinclair's fluoride rant Outspoken broadcaster takes a bite out of fluoride. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1766195241
