Cities without cavities: democracy, risk, and public health

J Can Stud. 2010;44(2):146-70. doi: 10.3138/jcs.44.2.146.

Abstract

This essay examines the history of fluoride debates in four Canadian cities. It argues that fluoride's opponents were primarily motivated by what they saw as the health and environmental risks of adding fluoride to the water supply. They also believed that fluoridating the public water supply was a fundamental violation of civil liberties. The fluoride debates have much to teach us about how people evaluate potential health risks and how they respond to state interventions in the field of public health.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Canada / ethnology
  • Cities* / economics
  • Cities* / ethnology
  • Cities* / history
  • Cities* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Civil Rights / economics
  • Civil Rights / education
  • Civil Rights / history
  • Civil Rights / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Civil Rights / psychology
  • Fluoridation* / economics
  • Fluoridation* / history
  • Fluoridation* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Fluoridation* / psychology
  • History of Dentistry*
  • History, 20th Century
  • History, 21st Century
  • Local Government / history
  • Public Health* / economics
  • Public Health* / education
  • Public Health* / history
  • Public Health* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Urban Health / history
  • Urban Population / history