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27 April 2006
Fraser Coast Chronicle
Letter to the editor
Dear Editor
Include facts, not emotion, in water fluoridation case
Mr Fenton (FCC, 25-04-06) should stick to the facts on water fluoridation.
The fluoridation chemicals that have been used in the rest of Australia for decades are sodium fluoride and fluorosilicic acid.
When dissolved in water, sodium fluoride breaks down completely into sodium ions and fluoride ions, and fluorosilicic acid breaks down completely into hydrogen ions, fluoride ions, molecules of sand, and water.
All these ingredients are identical to those already present in all water supplies. The stringent Australian Drinking Water Guidelines ensure that water is completely safe, and to imply that the other states are poisoning their citizens is ignorant and offensive.
Your statement that “The EU has banned water fluoridation” is a complete fabrication. The EU allows any European country to fluoridate their water supplies. Because of practical difficulties with water supplies, many European countries have sensibly chosen the alternative of salt fluoridation to give their citizens the benefits of fluoride.
More than 300 million people in over 30 countries around the world, and more than 80 percent of Australians in other states and territories have enjoyed the benefits of water fluoridation for decades.
The Australian Dental Association and Health Departments around Australia did not meet with Prof Connett simply because his brand of anti-fluoridation rhetoric is simplistic and unscientific. I’d rather believe the World Health Organisation, American Medical Association, British Medical Association, Australian Medical association and more than 100 of the world’s leading health authorities, all of whom endorse water fluoridation.
Water fluoridation has been widely practiced around the world for more than 60 years, and the health and financial costs of not fluoridating water supplies are immense. Why must Queenslanders miss out and have the worst teeth in Australia?
Yours sincerely
Michael Foley
Immediate past president
Australian Dental Association
Queensland Branch
All of the information included on this web site is accurate to the best of knowledge of the Australian Dental Association (Queensland Branch). To make the text more readable for non-scientists, ADAQ has deliberately minimised attributions and links to supporting files or scientific attachments. However these sources are readily available if required and many can be found via www.health.qld.gov.au/fluoride. |
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