No issue has been more divisive for the Bega Valley in recent months than fluoride.
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That council is considering fluoridation of the whole shire’s drinking water supplies as part of service upgrades has drawn a lot of debate – both for and against.
On Wednesday, June 28 at 1pm NSW Health will present a report on fluoridation to councillors in the council chambers and the public are welcome to attend.
At the heart of the debate lie studies and quoted findings pointing to fluoride’s effect on people’s health.
The public health measure that covers around 93 per cent of the NSW population and has been in the Bega-Tathra supply since the 1960s is said to have no detrimental health effects at all, with a small concession it can potentially lead to discolouration of teeth.
On the other side, vehement opposition to water fluoridation claims everything from fluoride causing low IQ in children, Down’s syndrome, obesity and even cancer.
Candelo’s Kate Burke has been digging into the evidence trotted out by both sides and has published a lengthy review, Sifting through the ‘evidence’: Fluoridation and public health.
Ms Burke is currently studying a Masters in science communication at the ANU, Canberra.
“I started a science blog last year. I’ve been following this fluoride debate closely, it’s something that really interests me. There’s all kinds of sides to this debate and conflicting evidence. But not all evidence is equal,” she said.
Ms Burke delved deep into the evidence quoted by the Fluoride Action Network, an international anti-fluoride group that has supporters in local dentists such as Maria Claudianos.
However, Ms Burke said many of the studies used by FAN are of “low quality” and “not good enough to be used as a basis for public health decisions”.
She said that while many who oppose fluoride do so on the basis of personal choice and belief in the claimed ill effects, having low quality studies as “evidence” in Ms Burke’s mind “undermines their argument”.
“This is why the review of evidence is so important,” Ms Burke said, referring to the NSW Health documentation and report into peer-reviewed science by the Australian government’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Ms Burke’s report, Sifting through the ‘evidence’, is published on her science blog www.raisinscience.com.