Doctors urge Queensland to help defeat anti-fluoride 'conspiracy theorists'

The Australian Medical Association says the Queensland government needs to strike a new deal with regional councils to encourage them to put fluoride back in the water supply.

About 800,000 people in regional Queensland do not have fluoride added to their drinking water. That represents more than half the population outside of the urban south-east, and 40% of the state’s Indigenous population, who have the highest rates of tooth decay.

The AMA Queensland president, Dilip Dhupelia, said the state needed to end the “piecemeal approach” that gave local councils responsibility for deciding whether to add fluoride, which was widely backed by public health experts as a safe and effective way to prevent dental problems.

Dhupelia said the situation had led to an impasse in some areas, where councils were willing to consider fluoridation but wanted the state, which owns the water supply, to cover the cost.

“There is ample evidence to prove that fluoridation is an affordable and efficient public health prevention method that all Queenslanders deserve,” he said...........