Australia - Fluoride overdose strikes Brisbane's water supply
Patrick Lion and AAP
May 14, 2009 05:15pm
ABOUT 20 times the recommended fluoride was accidentally added to Brisbane water supplies two weeks ago.
Premier Anna Bligh today said the first breach of safety guidelines had occurred between 9am and midday on Friday May 1.
The water should have had 1.5 milligrams per litre of fluoride but test results released this week showed it had between 30 and 31 milligrams per litre.
About 300,000 litres of water was released from a fluoride treatment plant at North Pine Dam.
The water flowed into as many as 4000 households in Brendale and Warner on Brisbane's northside.
Ms Bligh, who was alerted to the issue last night, today moved to reassure people, saying there was a very remote chance of any health issues, particularly given symptoms would have emerged by now .
Queensland Health has not received any reports of ill-effects.
The effects of a fluoride overdose are symptoms similar to gastro enteritis.
Ms Bligh said she was angry about the bungle and has ordered a full investigation.
"While I am very concerned about this incident, it does not concern me in relation to the benefits of fluoride in our drinking system,'' she said.
"Our plants treat our water for a range of safety purposes, so I want to understand what happened in this case.
"But it does not for one minute shake my confidence that fluoride is one of the most significant public health leaps forward of the last century.''
Ms Bligh said the incident was unprecedented at any other fluoride treatment plant in Australia.
"There will be a thorough investigation of this issue,'' she said.
There are at least three safety checks which are believed to have failed.
The bungle is believed to have occurred during a routine shutdown for maintenance at the plant.
Operations shut down but the fluoride pump didn't.
It effectively overdosed an amount of water which was released into the pipes when the plant resumed operations.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said the amount of fluoride that passed through the pipes over a three hour period was "of no health concern at all''.
"I''m confident the risk of anyone having suffered any adverse health outcome is remote - if indeed not zero,'' she said.
Dr Young said for there to be a health risk the levels would have to be much higher and for much longer than three hours.
"It's a high level in terms of what's provided in the water but it's a low level in terms of any risk,'' she said.
Ms Bligh said Mark Pascoe, CEO of the International Water Centre based in Brisbane, will run the investigation.
"As an immediate precaution when any water treatment plants are shut down for normal maintenance, there will be a manual shutdown of the fluoride dosing equipment,'' she said.
May 14, 2009 05:15pm
ABOUT 20 times the recommended fluoride was accidentally added to Brisbane water supplies two weeks ago.
Premier Anna Bligh today said the first breach of safety guidelines had occurred between 9am and midday on Friday May 1.
The water should have had 1.5 milligrams per litre of fluoride but test results released this week showed it had between 30 and 31 milligrams per litre.
About 300,000 litres of water was released from a fluoride treatment plant at North Pine Dam.
The water flowed into as many as 4000 households in Brendale and Warner on Brisbane's northside.
Ms Bligh, who was alerted to the issue last night, today moved to reassure people, saying there was a very remote chance of any health issues, particularly given symptoms would have emerged by now .
Queensland Health has not received any reports of ill-effects.
The effects of a fluoride overdose are symptoms similar to gastro enteritis.
Ms Bligh said she was angry about the bungle and has ordered a full investigation.
"While I am very concerned about this incident, it does not concern me in relation to the benefits of fluoride in our drinking system,'' she said.
"Our plants treat our water for a range of safety purposes, so I want to understand what happened in this case.
"But it does not for one minute shake my confidence that fluoride is one of the most significant public health leaps forward of the last century.''
Ms Bligh said the incident was unprecedented at any other fluoride treatment plant in Australia.
"There will be a thorough investigation of this issue,'' she said.
There are at least three safety checks which are believed to have failed.
The bungle is believed to have occurred during a routine shutdown for maintenance at the plant.
Operations shut down but the fluoride pump didn't.
It effectively overdosed an amount of water which was released into the pipes when the plant resumed operations.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said the amount of fluoride that passed through the pipes over a three hour period was "of no health concern at all''.
"I''m confident the risk of anyone having suffered any adverse health outcome is remote - if indeed not zero,'' she said.
Dr Young said for there to be a health risk the levels would have to be much higher and for much longer than three hours.
"It's a high level in terms of what's provided in the water but it's a low level in terms of any risk,'' she said.
Ms Bligh said Mark Pascoe, CEO of the International Water Centre based in Brisbane, will run the investigation.
"As an immediate precaution when any water treatment plants are shut down for normal maintenance, there will be a manual shutdown of the fluoride dosing equipment,'' she said.
posted by Bill at
9:41 AM
3 Comments:
The above-mentioned 30-31 mg/L overdose of fluoride in Brisbane's water supply is NOT "About 20 times the recommended (rate to add) fluoride" as reported.
The overdose of fluoride is actually approximately 38.5 times greater than what should have been added because Brisbane's water supply is supposed to be fluoridated at the rate of 0.8 mg/L NOT at the 1.5 milligrams per litre as mentioned above, (No water supply in Australia is deliberately dosed at the rate of 1.5 mg/L).
I suspect the authorities have deliberately reported 1.5 mg/L as the recommended amount to downplay the seriousness of the spill.
Further, Queensland's Premier Bligh incorrectly reported that "the incident was unprecedented at any other fluoride treatment plant in Australia" when it is known that Dalby, in Queensland experienced a fluoridation accident in 1977.
I quote from "Fluoridation - Poison" on Tap by G.S.R. Walker, page 281:
"A family named Collins was rushed to hospital in Dalby, Queensland after malfunction of the fluoridation plant in October 1976. All the family were treated in hospital for fluoride poisoning. The plant was closed for nine months and the Council employee resigned and moved away. All this was reported in the Dalby Herald 28.1.77 and confirmed by Dalby Council even though there is no mention in the Council's minutes of any accident or harm to the Collins family."
Further, in the past I have noted online an agenda for a meeting of officials in the state of New South Wales on which a matter for discussion was an oversupply of fluoride at two fluoridation plants in that state. Goodness knows how many other oversupplies of fluoride have been covered up in Australia.
In 1997, one medical practitioner in the Queensland city of Mackay said on radio and again at a public council fluoridation forum that there was only a 1 in 66,000 year chance of a fluoridation accident.
It is definitely not out of respect for this medical practitioner's "common sense" that I do not list his name here.
Rambling Rose
By
Anonymous, at 14 May, 2009
I would think it is enough to endanger a baby. Then you have those who reboil the water in their kettles. And yet Bligh gives no health warnings for people more susceptible to fluoride poisoning due to age or health conditions. Let me fill in. She doesn't know any such people and hasn't personally been told of any symptoms experienced. How easy is blissful ignorance! Think 3 monkeys.
By
Anonymous, at 14 May, 2009
politics today represent big multi national interests mainly US, look at our cancer rates and health problems, how much pharmacutical products are sold, water shortages only for profit, as the bradfield scheme would fix that, our power supplies no natural gas for our power plants as its all sold overseas again by multinationals, we get peanuts in royality and politicians clap their hands with glee.
LNG would reduce CO2 by 43% increase efficiency by 30% and build size by 10% our coal interests are foriegn, no need for carbon tradeing rip off.
Fluoridation is just another con, look at the draconian laws for dosing the water.
I am sick of all politics in this country, they are brown tounged lackies of big biss not representing the people at all.
By
Anonymous, at 31 August, 2009
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