Anti-fluoride activists are hoping the newly-elected Lismore City Council will take a fresh look at the fluoride issue, and have welcomed the decision by the Mackay City Council in Queensland to discontinue fluoridating their water supply.
The Mackay council, which was forced to fluoridate by the Queensland Government in 2011, has now joined two thirds of councils in Queensland who have through concerted public and community concerns have rejected fluoridation.
Fluoride Free Northern Rivers spokesperson Leisa Webb said Lismore should follow the lead of Mackay.
‘The Jenny Dowell-led council with support of councillor Neil Marks in 2014 moved to hand over all fluoride decisions to the NSW Department of Health,’ Ms Webb said.
‘This has led to a situation where the fluoride plants constructed in the northern rivers are subject to overdosing and constant break downs spilling highly concentrated toxic water into the plants.
‘As there has been no reporting about these hazards occurring or the clean up and disposal of the waste into the environment FFNR have called on Lismore City Council to suspend the plant operations and hold an urgent inquiry.’
Ms Webb said the a survey of candidates prior to the recent local government election had shown that a majority of the newly-elected council were against fluoride.
‘The makeup of the newly-elected Lismore Council from our pre-election candidate survey clearly indicates that the council has reverted to its traditional 50 year position of opposing water fluoridation,’ she said.
Prior to the election, Isaac Smith, Elly Bird, Greg Bennett, Vanessa Ekins all said they were opposed to fluoride, while Cr Neil Marks and Ginapiero Battista voted in support during the term of the last council. Activists believe newly-elected councillors Adam Guise, Darlene Cook, Eddie Lloyd and Nancy Casson would make up a majority against fluoride is they supported the position taken by the heads of their electoral groups.
‘The success of conservative councillor Greg Bennett could be explained by his opposition to fluoridation at the expense of the National Party pro fluoride advocate Cr Neil Marks,’ Ms Webb said.
‘The widely reported recent statements from the NHMRC on the safety of fluoride are highly misleading. The NHMRC failed to disclose the Therapeutic Goods Administration will not register water fluoridation as a therapeutic on the grounds that it is NOT therapeutic, meaning no therapeutic claims can be made on water fluoridation.
‘The report also failed to disclose that 25 per cent of 12 year old children in NSW now have fluorosis, a visible sign of fluoride over dose, with 4 per cent of that is classed as being moderate to severe.
‘Fluoride Free Northern Rivers have a new office at 10 Club Lane in Lismore which is dedicated to research, information and fund raising. Over the last 12 months FFNR have prepared a detailed legal brief for Counsel with an aim to mount a Federal Court challenge.’
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