FLUORIDE TABLETS WARNING - A LITTLE TOO LATE

December 3, 2008, 11:02 am by Partydavo

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For a year now Anna Bligh has been proclaiming that fluoride would be added to our water by end of this year . On the 1st November, SEQ Water advertised in the back of the Courier Mail that fluoride would be added to SE Qld water supplies on the 1st December ( this was the only official public notice placed, despite the millions of dollars spent on fluoride promotion advertisements )

However, despite some public servants in Queensland’s Oral Health Unit doing everything they could to see Queensland was fluoridated in time for Christmas, it was not until the day after that fluoride could be added to water that the Principal Public Dentist thought fit to put out a warning that parents should throw fluoride tablets away because of the risk of Dental Fluorosis.

One Colgate Fluoride tablet contains 0.25 mg fluoride: Colgate’s recommended dose for 4 to 8yr olds in unfluoridated areas is 2 tablets daily or 0.5 mg ( the equivalent of just two and a half 250 ml glasses of 0.8 ppm fluoridated water )

With the very late warning that getting too much fluoride can cause Dental Fluorosis, that fluoride tablets combined with fluoridated water is a risk, where is the warning that children who drink more than two and half glasses of water a day are also at risk?

On the 22nd Nov a bottle of Fluoride tablets was purchased from a large Qld Pharmacy chain Pharmacy at Booval Fair. There were no questions , no queries, no warnings provided, despite fluoridation imminent.

This afternoon ( Dec 2nd, 2008 ) at a near city southside Pharmacy, Fluoride tablets would have been available for purchase ( but shop was out of stock ) . When queried, the Pharmacist said that there had been no warnings from Queensland Health or the Pharmacy Guild to advise parents of the risk of combining with fluoridated water.

For some years now Queensland Health has been officially advising children to swallow toothpaste ( spit but don’t rinse ) which is also a major risk for Fluoride overexposure and Dental Fluorosis.

Yet again, Queensland Health has been shown to be clearly negligent in their duty of care to parents and children.

Most staff in Queensland Health are hard working, dedicated and caring people and It is only a few individuals In Queensland Health who let down the Queensland Health team and Queensland children. This negligence must be redressed.

WE REQUEST THE HEALTH MINISTER TO IMMEDIATELY AUTHORISE ADVERTISEMENTS ON TV AND IN ALL FREE LOCAL PAPERS IN SE QLD , AND TO PLACE POSTERS IN CHILD CARE CENTRES, BABY CLINICS AND DOCTORS SURGERIES ETC , WARNING PARENTS NOT TO OVEREXPOSE THEIR CHILD TO FLUORIDE WITH A COMBINATION OF FLUORIDATED WATER AND TABLETS.

Message authorised by Merilyn Haines on behalf of Queenslanders For Safe Water , Air and Food Inc www.qawf.org

We declare no financial benefit or advantage from the selling, or non sellling of any fluoride containing products .