Page 64 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 1991
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pursued the sensible approach. While this report may be the first in Australia to recommend a reduction in the level, it certainly will not be the last. The city of Darwin, of course, has only ever had 0.7 parts per million since it went down the path of water fluoridation in 1972. I am quite sure that this report will be used across Australia and will certainly form a basis for a review of levels in many water supplies around our country.
I would also like to place on record my thanks to the other members of the committee, to the committee staff, especially Judith Henderson and Ann Scott, Hansard staff and also those who contributed to this report by submissions or appearing before the committee at public hearings. I would also like to express my thanks for the assistance given by those State and local government organisations and individuals in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast where discussions were held, and to the embassies and high commissions who contributed to our report.
In conclusion, the level of one part per million was set back in 1964 and now in 1991 there is an increasing number of sources of fluoride, which indicates to me that the level of one part per million must be reduced. The committee concludes that the level of fluoride be reduced to 0.5, and monitored.
There is a need for more Australian research and the ACT is certainly an appropriate place for the research to take place. The committee recommendation that the ACT Government urgently seek NHMRC funding to establish a major independent study of the effect on dental health of a reduced level of fluoride in the ACT water supply should be pursued quickly.
For those who say that a reduction from one part per million should not happen or that there is no evidence, then think of those people of Beaconsfield in Tasmania in 1953 or closer to home, perhaps, the people of Yass in 1956, when those two towns were fluoridated. What evidence was before them then? Why have cities like Geelong, Brisbane and the Gold Coast not pursued the path of water fluoridation? The question of water fluoridation is a contentious one. I and my colleagues, as members of the Social Policy Committee, were charged with a task which was to produce a report with a set of recommendations. (Extension of time granted)
The major recommendation of a reduction in the level of fluoride from one part per million to 0.5 was a unanimous view. I thank my committee colleagues for pursuing that path. I commend the report to the Assembly.
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