Australia - Residents fired up over fluoride furore

Residents fired up over fluoride furore
12:00a.m. 8 December 2007
Just one mention of the word fluoridation and you can almost hear the collective tapping of keyboards across the Sunshine Coast.
The Daily was inundated with emails yesterday following premier Anna Bligh’s announcement on Thursday that the Sunshine Coast would have fluoridated water by the end of next year.
Joan Stanfield, of Noosaville, believes fluoride is a waste product of industry and not a pharmaceutical-grade chemical.
“Premier Bligh appears to be oblivious to the worldwide concern over the dangers of fluoride, a non-pharmaceutical chemical and a graded poison, the waste product of industry,” she wrote.One Daily reader, Brandi Cerreto from Redcliffe, said if fluoride was added to Queensland water she would have to leave the country because of her allergies.“I know it isn’t safe because it nearly killed me,” she wrote.
“The years of drinking it in Melbourne had made me intolerant. It started with migraines and liver pain and ended in nausea and vomiting.”
But Australian Medical Association Queensland branch president Dr Ron Cartmill says it is all hype with no evidence.“Fluoride is not just an oral health issue,” he said. “It is well known that people with poor oral health risk heart disease.”