Australia - Battle lines drawn in row over fluoridated water

Anti-fluoride campaigner Ron Petersen, of Alexandra Headland
Battle lines drawn in row over fluoridated water
12:00a.m. 7 December 2007
By Jane Gardner
Anti-fluoridation groups are preparing to lobby government to reverse the state government’s decision to add fluoride to Queensland’s water supply.And with the Sunshine Coast now likely to build a fluoridation plant at Lander’s Shoot next year, the emotional debate will gain momentum over the coming weeks.
Merilyn Haines, of the Queenslanders against Water Fluoridation group, said the battle had just begun.“We will be lobbying all 89 MPs, all of them. We have to convince Labor party members that they do not have a right to forcibly mass medicate their citizens,” she said.
Professionals against Water Fluoridation chairman Dr John Ryan has also vowed to become more vocal about the perceived negatives of fluoride over the coming weeks.
Alexandra Headland fluoride opposer Ron Petersen is the honourary secretary of a Victorian anti-fluoride group.
He said the solution to make everybody happy was simple.“The obvious solution is to provide fluoride tablets to those who choose to use them, and thus avoid harm to those sensitive to the chemical who will be forced to drink it,” he said.Mr Petersen is urging the premier to do the “decent thing” and like many other fluoride opposers is demanding a referendum be held.“At the very least let us decide whether we want this medication in our water supply,” he said.Retired Caloundra dentist Neville Green discounted the anti-fluoride groups’ claims as rubbish.Mr Green is a former senior dentist and member of the Melbourne University Faculty of Dentistry.“The main point here is that Queensland is out of step with the rest of the country,” he said.“There is no controversy about this issue in scientific circles. This controversy comes from a very noisy, uneducated and illiterate minority.”
While some are preparing to fight, Bokarina’s long-time opponent of fluoridation, Peter Keogh, says it’s hopeless.Although he hates the idea of fluoride in drinking water, he admits there is little anyone can do to change the government’s decision.