Australia - Ballart residents want flouridated water vote

Ballart residents want flouridated water vote
Posted September 13, 2007 13:25:00
Ballarat council in central Victoria was presented with a petition about fluoride at its meeting last night.
The petition asks council to let the residents of Ballarat vote about whether fluoride should be added to the city's water supply.
The petition contained 20 signatures which is the minimum for a petition to be presented to the council.
But a petition spokeswoman Anne Enright says in past instances they have been able to obtain 7,000 signatures from concerned Ballarat residents on the issue.
"The choice of what we drink should be up to the people and not up to a group of people who believe they know what's best for us," she said.
"We're adults, we should have a democratic right to say whether we think the water we are given is healthy or not and whether we want to drink it."
Ballarat council is still to determine its stance on having the city's water supply fluoridated.
Mayor David Vendy says he is not sure if the council has the authority to order a vote on the issue.
"Ballarat Health Services has decided to be the lead agency, so we've got to take notice of what they come up with," councillor Vendy said.
"We've heard the case for and against, well I have, I don't know about all the councillors, and clearly we've got to make a position on what we want that to be.
"Of course there will be a number of discussions take place, we'll listen to those and then council will make a decision."