Page 60 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 1991
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MRS NOLAN (8.15): Mr Speaker, the issue of water fluoridation is, and has been, a very contentious one. However, over the number of years that the debate has supposedly been won and lost by both sides, the sensible approach seems not to have been pursued. Times have changed since 1964 when fluoride was added to the Canberra water supply. The sensible approach must be a reduced level of fluoride now added to the water supply. I am pleased to acknowledge, as Mr Wood has done, that this is a unanimous decision of the committee.
In 1964 - and I would like to just reflect - Dawn Fraser swam 100 metres in 58.9 seconds, which was a world record. While it was quite a number of years before that record was broken, it was broken; and the world record for 100 metres swimming continues to be broken. Since 1964, and the time Canberra first had fluoride added to the water supply, many changes have occurred. The population of the ACT was only some 84,600 people, whereas in 1989 Canberra's population included 65,000-odd under-14-year-olds and a population of some 278,000 people. That is certainly a quite significant change.
The amount of fluoride readily available from many additional sources has also increased. For many people these additional sources have not caused any problems and have helped reduce dental caries in children's teeth. But, for many others they could have contributed to all sorts of headache and heartache. Not all people react in the same way to any form of medication, and fluoride is no exception. Many of those who came before us attributed many of their health problems to fluoride levels. Notice, Mr Speaker, I said that many attributed their health problems to fluoride levels.
I want to come back to my introductory remarks and the sensible approach. The major recommendation in our report is for a reduction in the level of fluoride added to the water supply from one part per million to 0.5 parts per million. I must acknowledge all members of the Social Policy Committee for pursuing this path. It was, as I said earlier, a unanimous decision and one, I believe, that is very important to our report.
One could say that it was not a decision that was easily reached, and nor should it have been. Others could also suggest that some members of the committee reached their conclusions based on different reasons. There is no doubt that fluoride reduces dental caries in children's teeth, but at what cost? I endorse the committee's view that it is a responsible and sensible practice to keep the amount of any additive to the water supply at the lowest level that will achieve maximum effect.
The committee was hopeful that there would be a solution for all our community, bearing in mind those from the lower socioeconomic groups. It was, of course, self-evident from the outset that there were two distinct views and, as the
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