Good on Coff’s Harbour Councillors for getting fluoridation on the table for discussion at the upcoming Local Government Conference. The NSW Local Government Assn policy really needs to be reviewed . The current Qld Local Govt Assn policy is that without the EXPRESS Consent of the community, fluoridation is unethical mass medication. Ninety – five percent of the world’s population do not fluoridate their drinking water, most European countries don’t fluoridate water because of concerns about adverse health effects and recognition that fluoridation is unethical mass medication.
While the annual technical costs of fluoridation are not huge, the other side of the equation, the costs of adverse health effects is never looked at. Recent data on dental fluorosis from the 2007 NSW Child Dental Health Survey shows that a quarter of children in NSW fluoridated areas have Dental Fluorosis at some level with nearly 4 children in every 100 having Moderate ( unsightly clearly visible ) Dental Fluorosis. Fluorosis is a sign of fluoride overdose that occurred when children’s teeth were forming. Porcelaine Veneers used to disguise fluorosis cost upwards of $1000 a tooth. For over 10 years now it has been widely accepted that the main action of fluoride is ” topical ” when it touches teeth , not “systemic” – as when swallowed. These are some of the issues that the 16 Queensalnd Councils that have rejected fluoridation in the last 6 months have taken into account.
The fact that there are now 36 human studies linking fluoride exposure at only moderately raised levels to the lowerin of IQ is something that the NSW Govt Assn especially needs to take into consideration. All the 36 fluoride – IQ studies are referenced at www. fluoridealert.org