LOVE it or hate it, Mackay residents will have to swallow it come 2009. Fluoride will be added to the Nebo Road Water Treatment Plant as part of a planned upgrade to the site late next year.

Yesterday the Daily Mercury door knocked residents in South Mackay, which will be one of the first areas that will have fluoridated water following from its taps.

And it seems not everyone sees eye to eye on the fluoridation issue.

Leelani Amies, of Beverley Street, said she had no problem with the introduction of fluoride into her family drinking-water supply.

“It’s been around in other states for a long time and they don’t seem to have had any problems with it,” she said.

“I’ve got three young children aged 12, 10 and 2, fluoride will be good for their teeth.

“They’ve had water in Brisbane before, which has fluoridated, and didn’t have any reaction.”

However others, who did not wish to be named, expressed their distaste for the additive.

A resident in Keelan Street said Governments adding fluoride to water was a form of mass medication.

“I am very concerned about the impacts it might have on my health and the health of my family.

“I don’t understand why they have to force fluoride onto residents.

“It should be an individual’s choice.

“If people want fluoride they should just purchase the drops from council, then those who don’t can live without it.”

A Queensland Health spokesperson said water fluoridation was needed to prevent tooth decay reaching epidemic proportions in Queensland.

“Queenslanders suffer higher levels of tooth decay than other Australians, and less than five per cent of our people currently have access to fluoridated water.

“International experts agree that water fluoridation is the safest and most cost effective way to reduce tooth decay,” the spokesperson said.

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