Australia - LNP won't brush aside flouride

LNP won't brush aside flouride
Jessica Marszalek March 18, 2009 - 1:27PM
A Liberal National Party (LNP) government would stick with the decision to put fluoride in drinking water, but release data on the health benefits, leader Lawrence Springborg says.
Fluoride was introduced into Queensland drinking supplies last December and 90 per cent of the state will be drinking the water in four years' time.
But while the move brought Queensland - where 50 per cent of Queensland children suffer from dental decay before the age of six - into line with other states, some sections of the community say it amounts to unnecessary mass medication.
Mr Springborg on Wednesday said he would not repeal the decision, but would order Queensland Health to provide greater transparency of the health program.
"All we're saying is Queensland Health should be able to give us the data ... and there should be a comparison each year of what the health benefits have been," Mr Springborg told reporters in Brisbane.
"Queenslanders just want to know that."
He said residents who had not been consulted on the decision to add fluoride to the water supply at least deserved to be informed on its effects.
"We're going to present the people with all the data which they've never had so that the community can be comforted one way or the other," he said.
Mr Springborg said the government had erred in its handling of the issue by not providing enough information for an informed debate.
AAP