DEAR News Of The Area,

COULD we perhaps revisit the very contentious issue of fluoride in our drinking water in our next council election?

If anyone is in any doubt, please read the excellent book ‘The Case against Fluoride’ by Paul Connett – “how hazardous waste ended up in our drinking water, and the bad science and powerful politics that kept it there!”

When governments in the 1950s endorsed water fluoridation, there was little evidence of its safety.

Now, six decades later, after many countries have rejected this practice, 200 million people are still forced to drink fluoridated water!

Dentists continue to promote its benefits, and even mandate statewide water fluoridation, despite increasing evidence that it is not only unnecessary, but potentially hazardous to human health if taken internally.

In the case of water fluoridation, the chemicals that go into the drinking water of millions of people are not even pharmaceutical grade, but rather a hazardous waste product of the phosphate fertilizer industry!

It is illegal to dump this waste into the sea, or rivers, yet it is allowed into our drinking water! Also, from an ethical standpoint, water fluoridation is a bad medical practice – individuals are forced to take medication without their informed consent and there is no control over the dose, or possible side effects.

The case against fluoride brings new research to light, including the links between fluoride and harm to the brain, bones and endocrine system, and the evidence that fluoride reduces tooth decay is very weak.

Instead it may even cause fluorosis in early childhood whilst permanent teeth are still developing.

Also babies who are bottle fed and whose formula is mixed with unfiltered, fluoridated tap water, are at risk of toxic overexposure to fluoride.

Hence, fluoridation of our drinking water, without our consent, is equivalent to unauthorised mass medication.

It would be wonderful if at the next Council election, as ratepayers, we could be given the opportunity to vote on this issue involving our health.

It should not be up to us to fit very expensive reverse osmosis filtration systems to our taps to protect our families from fluoride exposure!

Regards,
Z KOENIGSEDER,
Bellingen.