Bizarre conspiracy theories used to fight fluoride in Qld drinking water

Local government councillors against having fluoride in the water supply have used bizarre claims and debunked conspiracy theories to justify their decision.

Cairns Regional Councillor Cathy Zeiger. Picture: Brendan Radke

Local government councillors against having fluoride in the water supply have used bizarre claims and debunked scare tactics from conspiracy theorists to justify their decision.

This includes insinuating people would stop brushing their teeth if fluoride was added, with another councillor using the debunked scare claim that fluoride was unsafe because workers who handled the material at water treatment plant used protective gear to move it around.

The Courier-Mail and its sister publications across Queensland have launched the State of Decay series, highlighting the significant dental health problems in regions without fluoride, as a vocal minority continues to lobby councils to keep the vital mineral out of the water.

A handful of Queensland councils, including Cairns, Gympie and Gladstone put fluoridation of the water supply back on the agenda in recent months, with Gympie ultimately opting to remove the teeth-strengthening mineral.

Cairns and Gladstone councillors debated putting fluoride back in the water after previously voting to remove it in 2013 and 2016 respectively.

In Cairns, councillor Matthew Tickner, who lists himself as an LNP member, argued “personal responsibility was slipping through our collective fingers” and implied leaning on governments to make decisions made communities weak.

Councillor Matt Tickner. Picture: Brendan Radke

He then used the example of how parents needed to give children “freedom to choose and ability to make decisions based on their own reasoning”.

Fellow Cairns councillor Cathy Zeiger said fluoride was not the “be all and end all” to not having cavities, before suggesting a lack of responsibility among society meant fluoridating the water would lead to people choosing not to brush their teeth.

“Everyone has to help me, that type of attitude is going to bring out more problems, by fluoriding (sic) yep, yep you’re not going to get cavities in your teeth so don’t bother brushing your teeth,” she said.

Cr Zeiger also repeated an anti-fluoride conspiracy claim that the mineral had “toxic effects”.

Deputy Mayor Brett Olds, who was one of six Cairns councillors to reject adding fluoride into the water, repeated an oft-used claim by fringe anti-fluoride campaigners that the compound added to water was dangerous because workers who handled it used protective gear.

Gympie Regional councillor Allona Lahn, one of six representatives which voted to remove fluoride from the water, said the “science is never settled” despite health organisations globally supporting fluoridation as a key tool in warding off tooth decay.

She also claimed it was “a little bit disturbing” that the medical experts that briefed council didn’t give “any differing opinions”.

Allona Lahn. Picture: Christine Schindler

Councillors across the three areas, both for and against having fluoride in the water, argued the state had unfairly abrogated its responsibility for heath matters onto the lower level of government.

Cairns Regional Council was the state’s largest to remove fluoride and voted in December to keep it out, ignoring pleas from medical experts.

Mayor Amy Eden, Deputy Mayor Brett Olds and councillors Brett Moller, Matthew Tickner, Cathy Zeiger and Kristy Vallely all voted to keep fluoride out of the city’s water despite nearby Townsville – which has fluoride – suffering significantly less primary tooth decay than Cairns.

In September, Gympie councillors including Mayor Glen Hartwig, Jessica Milne, Shane Warnes, Allona Lahn, Warren McEwan and Gordon Maudsley voted to discontinue fluoridating the region’s water after an anti-fluoride petition with just 650 signatures, including those of foreign nationals.

Councillors are fighting against fluoride in the water

Originally published as Bizarre conspiracy theories used to fight fluoride in Qld drinking water