Page 1786 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 18 October 1989
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efficacy and the possible dangers of fluoride in the water. If there is doubt, as Mr Jensen mentioned during the initial Bill's debate, leave it out, and that is the correct, honest, logical, moral and legal stance to take.
If fluoride is forced back down the throats of the people of Canberra, those people who so make that decision in this Assembly, without waiting for the committee of inquiry, will bear the responsibility. If they are not aware of the scientific evidence that has proven - and I do not mean suggested, but proven - harm by this subject, that is their responsibility to have read the data, to have researched the data.
If they feel it is a medical decision, if they do not know enough to make a decision for the rights of the people of Canberra, what on earth are we coming to when the Liberal Party, a party that has some of the best policies ever produced by a party in Australia when it comes to individual freedoms, when it comes to making decisions for the family, would force fluoride down the throats of the population of Canberra?
Let me quote from a book which we were recently all informed came into the Assembly library. This is a quote from Your Health Rights. It is a Choice handbook from the Australian Consumers Association. It is endorsed by Dr Neal Blewett - not a medical doctor - the Federal Minister for Community Services and Health. These are some selected quotes but they are relevant and they are not taken out of context:
Doctors are experts but they are not infallible -
No-one here would debate that; it is an obvious statement. We all well know many cases where mistakes have been made, recently and early on in the piece -
doctors may disagree with each other over the best treatment for particular problems. The final decision is ours -
not the politicians', not the medicos', not the dentists' -
We need not submit to their [the doctors'] treatments unless we so choose. It is up to all of us to stand up for what we regard as our rights.
And mark what I say; this will happen in Canberra. The people will stand up for their rights. In Australia check the referendum results if you do not know them.
In any fluoride debate, where perhaps some 10 per cent of the truth has been allowed to filter through the misrepresentation, the people overwhelmingly vote against fluoride. So will they in Canberra. The tide is turning. It is our right to live our lives free from unwanted bodily
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