Fluoride - Two Victories in Australia

Dear All,

Two victories to report in Australia, one small one in NSW and one large one in Queensland.

In NSW, the new Warrumbungle Shire Council has decided to overturn plans by the former administrator to fluoridate town water supplies in Coonabarabran, Coolah, Mendooran, Dunnedoo, Binnaway and Baradine (see report below).

In Queensland, the parliament voted 71 to 6 to oppose a private member's bill which would have made fluoridation mandatory in the state of Queensland. While this vote is very exciting, having read the speeches in Hansard, it is not all good news. Many of the MPs who voted against the bill are actually for fluoridation but they don't want to usurp the right of local communities to vote on it. So we shouldn't be surprised if down the road the ruling party introduces financial incentives to "encourage" communities to fluoridateMoreover, I was appalled how easily MPs are swept away by the heavy use of endorsements from WHO, NHMRC, CDC etc. Don't they have aides to help them sort out the wheat from the chaff on issues like this?

The MP who introduced the private member's bill, Mr. Langbroek, is a dentist. His statements to the House jump him to the top of the Hall of Shame. One of the things he said:

"Some members talked about the flood of e-mails coming onto their desk about the poisonous effect of fluoride. To those members I say: did one of those e-mails come from the Australian Medical Association? Did one of those e-mails come from the Australian Dental Association or its American counterpart or its British counterpart? No. They would have come from members of the community who have been infected by the conspiracy theories and piffle of people who are either insanely misguided on the science of the issue or have some sick desire to see children suffer at the hands of the dentist's drill."

Where was Mr. Langbroek when I was in Queensland last October? He could have confronted my "piffle" in person! However, like all the other promoters of fluoridation in Queensland he ran for cover rather than debate the issue at a public meting or on ABC radio, or on another call-in radio program. My carefully referenced scientific arguments were met with an earth shattering silence - until, of course, I left.

However, Mr Langbroek issued a challenge which might result in some interesting national repercussions, when he said:

"But if someone showed me a community with fluoride where the disease rate is higher than another community without fluoride, it would have to be removed and never be used again. That is the argument about the rest of Australia to all those people who say it is a bad thing. In that case, the rest of Australia needs to be told and it should be removed…".

We have made a copy of the debate published in Hansard. It's rather long and I chose not to circulate it to everyone. If you would like a copy in an open file, please let me know and I will send it to you. (www.fluoridealert.org.)

Meanwhile, please pass along your congratulations to one of those "who have been infected by the conspiracy theories and piffle of people who are either insanely misguided on the science of the issue or have some sick desire to see children suffer at the hands of the dentist's drill", namely "Bill Kilvert" <bkilvert@bigpond.com> , who I am sure will send it around to other members of this prestigious band of warriors!

Paul Connett

FAN CAMPAIGN Bulletin #218

New Council Overturns Fluoridation Plan

Fluoride will not be added to water supplies in the Warrumbungle Shire, west of Tamworth.

The new Warrumbungle Shire Council has decided to overturn plans to fluoridate town water supplies in Coonabarabran, Coolah, Mendooran, Dunnedoo, Binnaway and Baradine.

Administrator Bruce Rindflesh made a decision to fluoridate local supplies at February's council meeting.

But the new council adopted a recession motion at yesterday's council meeting.
Australia : NSW : Tamworth Friday, 22 April 2005

PROF. PAUL CONNETT'S COMMENT: With every passing day we receive phone calls and /or emails telling us about yet another city in the US or Canada where local officials are asking serious questions about their fluoridation program. As in this case from Eustis, Florida (see below), local officials are doing their homework by going to our website.

This is exciting and I pray that this groundswell will turn into an avalanche. What is great about this is that the proponents have nowhere they can go to deal with this. Their stale tactics of citing "authority" and "denigrating opponents" simply doesn't work once someone with an open mind starts to review the literature. After all these tactics were developed precisely to keep people away from the literature!

Now that Michael has done such a splendid job of making all the health data so easy to find and use, it will make it even easier for officials to get a quick education. So, please, if you haven't done so already, check out http://www.fluoridedalert.org/health and see for yourself how easy it is to get solid information on all our health concerns.

Talking about an "open mind", I thought of a phrase after I sent out the bulletin on the outrageous promotion of fluoride tablets by the Harvard Medical School. It goes as follows:

"I would rather have on my side an undergraduate with an open mind than a Harvard professor with a closed one."

As difficult as it is, keeping an open mind, especially on an issue for which you have always believed that one side was right and the other wrong, is absolutely essential in education. It is particularly crucial in science, "where an ugly fact can destroy a beautiful theory" (was it Pascal who said that?).

Retaining an open mind is the handmaiden to scientific integrity.

The Eustis meeting tonight will probably be flooded with white coats assuring people that the "authorities" say fluoridation is all fine and dandy. I hope the councilors will put their authority to the test and challenge them a) to debate the issue in public and b) spend a few hours gathering the answers to the 50 Reasons mentioned in the article. As they say, put your mouth where your money is!