Page 2718 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 1991
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As I said before, if the NHMRC can find no evidence of ill effects of fluoride, the problem is that they based their conclusions on error. They did not find it because the NHMRC study was nowhere near as detailed as the study that this Social Policy Committee has conducted. The Social Policy Committee inquiry into fluoride in the ACT is the most significant investigation into fluoride that has ever been conducted in this country. If anyone puts down the members of this committee and their findings, they do not understand; they have not read the research. Have a look at the research that has been conducted in Victoria, Tasmania and other places.
The NHMRC report was based on several people sitting down and reviewing the literature. It depends which documents you read as to how much research you have done. They did not call in experts from overseas. They did not call in witnesses from interstate. The NHMRC people reviewed the literature. We know how much there is of it. What double blind study was done so that they ensured that references from both sides of the argument were reviewed? I cannot assure you to the degree that I would like to, but I am confident that they did review the literature that was supporting the case that they presented. That is the statement that I will stick by, and I have said it before. In case you did not see a report recently - I have mentioned this before also - a Dr Eric Reynolds from Melbourne University dental research school has spent 12 years working on the discovery of casein phosphopeptides.
Mr Kaine: What are they? I thought you said that there was not any science and technology in this.
MR PROWSE: They are little wriggly things that Dr Reynolds has been researching for 12 years. This is a by-product of milk; it is a casein extract. This product has now been proved to affect dental caries. The headline is "Chocolate could soon be good for your teeth". They intend to put it into bread, milk and all sorts of other foods that are now coming onto the market. Here we have a product which can affect dental caries and which is not a toxic cumulative poison. I think we should look to those sorts of avenues rather than stick by this old hat idea of fluoride; it is past its time. Other countries are now pushing to remove it from the water supply. It is the story of the 1960s: Put a chemical in the water and everyone will be happy. That is now changing, and we should push as hard as we can to lead the way in the ACT.
Mr Kaine: Are you saying that we should eat more chocolate?
MR PROWSE: No, it is not in the chocolate yet. (Extension of time granted) Mr Wood made a point that there are lots of photos of children with big smiles and lovely white teeth because there is fluoride in the water. It is obvious, then, that there are no photos of children in Brisbane with big white smiles; they must all have dental caries! It is
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