FAN Bulletin 884
November 4, 2007
Dear All,
The number above is correct – the last bulletin was distributed out of sequence. This bulletin is already far too long, please check the Latest News section on our home page for some other important developments. Go to http://www.FluorideAction.net
Preface
I have just concluded my fifth trip to Australia. Here is an account. It is rather long (much longer than I anticipated when I began my short summary!) and sometimes rather personal. Making it any shorter and less personal, I think would have been a disservice to the many people working night and day on this issue. It should interest our friends in Australia. In addition, it might provide some pointers for those fighting fluoridation in other countries. The tactics of the proponents are strikingly similar in many countries which promote this practice. If nothing else please read the short sections on Dr. Mark Diesendorf, Dr. Andrew Harms and Dr. Mark Donohue as well as the conclusion.
Australia and fluoridation
Australia is one of only eight countries in which over 50% of the population is drinking fluoridated water. These are: Australia, Columbia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. Like most of these countries Australia has done no health studies on fluoridation on any tissue except the teeth. This, despite the fact that in 1991 its National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommended that it do so.
Instead of health studies the Australian authorities rely on second hand reviews largely from other countries. However, they are highly selective in which overseas evidence and advice they choose to follow. For example, they have largely ignored the NRC (2006) review and discounted the American Dental Association (ADA) advice to parents not use to fluoridated water to make up baby formula in the first year of the baby’s life, erroneously claiming that this advice was based on American formula containing fluoride (Australian Dental Association) and inaccurately claiming that the warning was directed towards the use of water containing 2-4 ppm (Carnie, chief health officer of Victoria).
The Australian authortities frequently cite the WHO’s endorsement of fluoridation without mentioning the WHO caveat that local decision makers before fluoridating should check current levels of exposure to fluoride from other sources. Were such checks made – based on dental fluorosis rates - this would rule out fluoridation in most communities.
In this matter, Australia represents two extremes: on the one hand, the government bureaucrats promoting this practice are the least informed and the most arrogant that I have experienced anywhere in the world, and on the other, the citizens opposing the practice are as well organized and dedicated as any I have met. I hope I can do justice to both of these extremes in the account that follows.
Previous trips
In the 1990s I was invited to Sydney by the South Sydney City Council to help close the trash incinerator in the suburb of Waterloo. In 2002 and 2003 I was invited by Greenpeace to help fight incinerator proposals in Perth, Tasmania and Sydney. In 2004 I used frequent flyer miles to do a tour entirely devoted to flighting fluoridation proposals in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
It was during the 2002 trip that I first made contact with citizens fighting fluoridation. I remember vividly my first meeting with the three musketeers from Geelong (Buzz Robertson, Keith Oakley and David McRae). We met at Melbourne airport and the first thing we did was to go to a costume shop and pick up a life size chicken outfit. I was later to debate this chicken (suitably stuffed with pro-fluoridation literature and christened Dr. Cluck) at a public meeting in Geelong, in lieu of the willingness of any pro-fluoridation person from the community or the Australian Dental Association or the Victorian state health authorities to debate me in person.
Chickens in government
This failure by proponents to defend their position in 2002 was repeated during my 2003 and 2004 trips and the tour I have just completed. Apart from one showdown with a single Veterinarian in Hamilton, Victoria in 2004, the proponents have failed miserably to match their inflated rhetoric and enthusiasm for fluoridation with a willingness to debate their case in public. They can only do this in solo performances and in PR crafted leaflets. They fair no better in private meetings or when asked to provide answers in writing to our “hard” questions, rather than the “soft” questions they pose themselves in their PR material. They get away with it because the press does not seem to care about their unwillingness to defend their assertions in debate and still defers to their “authority.”
In one such meeting in 2004, I asked Dr. Robert Hall, the chief health officer for the state of Victoria, if he had read the “50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation.” He said that he had but it hadn’t changed his mind about the “safety and effectiveness” of water fluoridation. I then asked him if he would respond to the “50 Reasons” in writing. His reply was stunning, he said: “Neither I, nor my staff, have any intention of doing that.”
I then asked Dr. Hall, “if fluoride is so important for children’s teeth why is it that the level in mothers milk is so low (0.004 ppm)?” and his reply was equally stunning. He said, “So nature has dealt some children a raw deal.” Since 2004 Dr Robert Hall has been fired because of another issue. His successor, Dr. John Carnie, is proving just as arrogant as Dr. Hall on fluoridation and as equally unprepared to defend his position in public debate, even when invited to do so in front of a group of medical and dental professionals (see below).
The recent tour
For this recent tour I used frequent flyer miles to get to Australia. All my food, travel and accommodations were provided by local citizens’ groups. Where possible I stayed in people’s homes. I received no honoraria for my talks. The tour began and ended in Brisbane at the home of Dr. John and Jeanie Ryan. Jeanie is a dietician and a nurse. John is a highly respected doctor who specializes in holistic medicine. Jeanie organized a two day (October 27, 28) conference at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane entitled “Combined Environmental Scientific Symposium.” When fluoridation proponents got wind of the fact that the symposium would include a discussion of fluoridation they persuaded the hospital to pull the plug on the venue. However, after some hasty phone calls to some important officials in the state government, the hospital authorities had to relent and the conference went ahead – but with a notice on the podium from both the hospital and Health Queensland that they did not endorse the views presented at the conference! More about this conference below.
Lismore, New South Wales (October 15)
On the day after I arrived in Brisbane, I was picked up from the Ryans’ home by Merilyn Haines who was accompanied by Jennifer Sharp. Merilyn drove me to Lismore in NSW. Merilyn has added considerable strength to the resistance to fluoridation in Queensland and neighboring NSW. She and Jeanie form a very strong team.
In Lismore we met up with Dr. Colin Locke (Col) and others from the local group. A few days before I arrived in Lismore the town was hit with a violent hail storm which did a lot of damage including smashing the car of my host for the evening. A few days after I left, Lismore was hit by a hurricane. For local folks, I guess my visit was a somewhat calm moment between these two storms! The meeting was jointly organized with citizens from the nearby town of Casino and was held in the local union hall. About 60 people attended this and we got a very nice article in the local newspaper.
Kempsey, NSW (October 16, 17)
The next day I took a train to Kempsey (on the Mid-North Coast of NSW) where I was met by Peter Clarke and Pat Wheeldon. Both Pat and Peter had been present at my previous presentation in Kempsey in 2004. I stayed with Peter and his wife Pam in their lovely home outside Kempsey. I was quickly made aware that I was truly in Australia when I saw wallabies and kangaroos (all shapes and sizes) jumping around in their back garden which abuts crown protected bush land. Other treats were the very loud frogs on their veranda and a tame magpie which would come to their kitchen and eat out of their hands.
The attendance at the meeting in Kempsey was very disappointing. Counting both the organizers and myself we had just 12 people. This was not through any lack of effort on behalf of the organizers. However, this poor attendance was offset by three things 1) an excellent article in the weekly newspaper (perhaps the longest and best of the trip), see the URL below; 2) an excellent live interview on ABC radio which went out during drive time in the morning after the meeting. This station reaches much of the mid-North Coast region. This was great because it reached the next community I was visiting - Port Macquarie - which probably increased the attendance there the following evening (see below) and 3) one of the attendees was 16 year old named Jesse who stayed up the night before until 4 am reading and watching – with ever widening eyes – the literature and videos on fluoridation. Being a whiz on computers he could well turn out to be a wonderful asset to Peter and the other folks fighting fluoridation in Kempsey. He has already produced a compilation of the videos on one DVD with startling opening graphics. We need this influx of young blood.
In the ABC radio interview I drew attention to the fact that once again the number one promoter of fluoridation in NSW – Mr. John Irving (project director, North Coast Area Health Service of NSW)– had ducked the opportunity to debate me in public. I also pointed out my amazement that this man, who is telling people how safe fluoridation is, has no medical or scientific qualifications. His background is in organic farming – a noble pursuit but hardly one which qualifies him to make pronouncements about health issues. The next morning – on the same program – Mr. Irving was interviewed. He conceded that his “hobby” is organic farming but for many years he has been spokesperson for the North Coast Area Health Service on a number of public health issues like smoking. That sounds like a PR person to me – not a medical expert. As such he should not be giving health advice to citizens or government officials.
When Mr. Irving was asked if he had read the NRC report, he said that he had but then quickly added that he only had to read a few pages to discover that it had nothing to do with water fluoridation. I conclude that he only read a few pages of this report. Had he read the exposure analysis (chapter 2) and the chapters on health end points he would have found that this report has a lot to do with water fluoridation. So much for the qualifications of those who are trying to bamboozle every last remaining town in NSW into fluoridating their water supply.
The technique that was used very effectively by these fluoridation pushers in NSW was to say to local town councils a) you can either make the decision yourselves or b) pass the decision onto the state health department’s expert committee. The latter inevitably led to a decision to fluoridate but conveniently got the local councilors off the political hook from making the decision themselves. Or so they thought. When the people found out all hell broke loose in many towns, including Kempsey, Coff’s Harbor and Port Macquarie.
In Kempsey, after the citizens protested loudly against the decision to fluoridate, and the councilors discovered it was going to cost a lot more than they were originally told, the council wrote to the NSW health department saying that they had changed their minds. But they were told essentially “tough luck, the decision has already been made (in official parlance it had been “gazetted” ) and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Fluoride leaves a bitter taste with prominent New Yorker,” The Macleay Argus (October 24)
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3126.html
Port Macquarie, NSW (October 18)
On October 18, Peter Clarke and Pat Wheeldon, after a splendid swim in the sea and a picnic lunch, drove me down to Port Macquarie, another town in the mid-North coast region of NSW. This was my second visit to Port Macquarie. In 2004 I had addressed a very large mid-day crowd in the town hall. I was sad to learn on my arrival that Don Mackay a spirited local fighter, who I had met on my previous visit, had rather suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. I briefly met his widow.
Currently, the town council of Port Macquarie is in total disarray. A debacle over the citing of a controversial new sports-leisure club has led to the forced resignation of the whole council, including one of Australia’s anti-fluoridation heroes, Councilor Lisa Intemann.
Lisa along with about 50 other people attended the meeting in the local bowling club. After my power point presentation a lively discussion ensued and it quickly turned out that there were some strong allies in the room: including a dentist Caree Alexander and several local naturopaths. Peter Clarke videotaped the presentation. I stayed overnight in the home of Barbara Grant - a very sprightly 82 year old who was one of the organizers of the meeting. Her energy would put the average 40 year old to shame! The next morning Barbara drove me to the airport for my flight to Newcastle.
Newscastle, NSW (October 19)
Newcastle is a large port and industrial area. Sitting out on the sea was a long line of about 100 ships lined up waiting to collect coal and iron ore for export. This city has been fluoridated since the sixties. I stayed in the home of Therese Taylor who designs gardens specializing in native species. One of the “natives” in her own garden was a large water lizard (or dragon!) nicknamed “Junior.” Junior is very tame and will eat out of their hands. Sadly he did not appear while I was there.
They decided on a slightly different approach to get the ball rolling in their community. During the afternoon a series of their friends and colleagues popped in to chat with me informally and in the evening Therese scheduled a showing of the FAN interview with Chris Bryson, “The Fluoride Deception.” This was done at a small theater which shows environmental movies each Friday evening. I gave a shortened version of my power point presentation after the showing. I asked how many people were shocked or surprised by what they had heard. Nearly every hand went up. Hopefully this has planted a few seeds for further efforts in this town.
In my talk I had mentioned that those with borderline iodine deficiency were particularly vulnerable to fluoride’s effect on the thyroid. One woman in the audience then told us that a friend of hers who had come to Australia with other people from the Netherlands, told her that the Dutch passengers were given small bottles of iodine and told to take a drop a day because of the widespread iodine deficiency in the country. She also mentioned that 1 in 5 Australians suffer from depression (according to the NRC (2006) report depression is one of the pre-clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism).
Mingara (near Gosford), NSW (October 20)
The following morning I was picked up by Sylvia Turner another key fighter of fluoridation in NSW. Until recently she was the leader of Central Coast Pure Water Association (CCPWA). She drove me to a recreation club in Mingara where I had lunch with some local councilors and members of the group fighting fluoridation in the town of Gosford. These included a delightful couple who are producing a very colorful cartoon strip designed to educate the public in the battle against fluoridation. It involves two characters “Eddy and Flo” - who are actually water droplets! More information about this cartoon strip can be obtained from their web site at http://ccpurewater.org (my attempts to load this URL have not worked and I am not sure what the problem is – I will try to found out for a future bulletin).
After lunch I gave my power point presentation to a crowd of about 40 people, including a rather obnoxious heckler. I had been warned that he might be there. When given the microphone after I had finished my talk, he demonstrated just how little he actually knew about the subject. Even so he demonstrated more courage than most officials promoting fluoridation.
Sylvia Turner
I asked Sylvia to send me some information about herself and more background on the local fight against fluoridation in Wyong Shire, Gosford and Woy Woy. This is what she wrote:
Since 1989 I became aware of fluoridation and its dangers through a stalwart in the fight, Maurice Malone. Over the years I have had occasion to assist him with the fight and as a Wyong Shire Councillor from 1991 – 1995 raised the issue seeking support for a community referendum (as Wyong has been fluoridated since 1967) and also organized a Council information session in which Dennis Stevenson spoke against fluoridation, Noel Martin from the Health Dept. also spoke in favour of fluoridation. Despite this, 7 of the 10 Councillors voted against my motion choosing to stick with the Health Dept. Over the years I have maintained my interest and when Maurice needed someone to take over the CCPWA, Tony La Spina and I took up the offer. During 2004 it was clear that the Health Dept. was engineering again to fluoridate still unfluoridated Gosford.
In 1977 and again in 1991 the residents of Gosford voted against fluoridation, but now the Dept. has produced “alarming” results of a survey of Gosford under 5’s having more dental treatment in hospital as compared to fluoridated Wyong Shire (this is a standard tactic used by promoters. Always ask if the study has been peer reviewed and published, PC). I could see the writing was on the wall to have Gosford Council agree to fluoridate. In July 2005 we were successful in stopping fluoridation by the casting vote of the Mayor. In 2006 the Mayoral seat had transferred to a pro-fluoride Councillor and again the subject returned to the Council agenda and in December 2006 we lost the vote once again on the casting vote of the Mayor who had raised the matter as a Mayoral Minute. The legitimacy of the manner of this decision is still questionable. Since then the Council has accepted a tender for 2 fluoridation treatment plants – one at its main plant at Somersby and the other in Woy Woy to treat the groundwater supply they are planning to utilize in this time of drought.
Probably our main problem is enthusing and consolidating the local community to become involved in taking action on this issue. Overall, it is a complex one to appreciate, but given the opportunity you can have most people accept the right to choose and perhaps alarm them with where the product is coming from. Fluoridation and the fight against it have been around for so long that most people just accept it and in particular accept what the Health Dept. has to say.
The media here is pathetic and often biased against us, so it is difficult to even get a fair and equal chance to have our say. Still the battle must continue and I can see, through the actions of people like yourself and others in the larger network that eventually we will get there!
Since your meetings here I have had some contact with the people who attended one of the meetings either by phone, letter or by posting them a copy of your presentation to those who requested it. Michael Linnell on behalf of the CCPWA rang me for attendance lists and also to get a contact for the freelance journalist, Heidrun Rodach, who interviewed you. I have yet to contact Heidrun myself, but hope that the interview with you has spurred her onto writing a piece that presents the case against fluoridation favourably.
Maurice Malone and the Hopewood project.
After the meeting in Mingara I was able to speak with Maurice Malone, who as Sylvia pointed out was for many years the driving force behind the Central Coast Pure Water Association (CCPWA). Maurice is 90 and has been fighting fluoridation for over 50 years! He is a good friend and colleague of Glen Walker (also in his 90’s and still going strong) and also of the late Phillip Sutton (author of “Fluoridation: The Greatest Fraud.”)
Maurice told me a little about his work at the Hopewood Children project. These children received no fluoride but were recorded as having the best teeth in Australia. I found the following information in an article given to me about the project. The article was titled “Dental Studies on Hopewood Children” by Madge Cockburn and appeared in the October/November 1992 issue of Natural Health.
The Hopewood children received a diet which was largely vegetarian. School lunches consisted of cheese, salads, nuts and fruit. Candies and processed foods were avoided. Starting in 1947 the children’s teeth were studied by the Institute of Dental Research at Sydney Dental Hospital and also by Dr. D.Clements, Head of Child Nutrition at Sydney University. Dr. Goldsworthy reported the results of the Hopewood study in the Medical Journal of Australia of February 1960. A copy was sent to all dentists. The brochure stated that “…The relative freedom from dental decay manifested in these children made an orthodontic study of much more value because practically no teeth had been extracted.”
Later the following comparison was published in The Journal of the Commonwealth Department of Health:
“Hopewood House children with caries 22.2%; Sydney children with caries 96%.
Hopewood children 4-9 years, 1 carious tooth between two children; Sydney children 4-9 years, 10 carious teeth per child.”
According to Madge Cockburn, this was at a time “when fluoride was use in the general community. However there was no fluoride in the water used by the Hopewood children.”
Despite this graphic evidence that it is good diet, not ingested fluoride, which is the key to good dentition, Sydney has continued to fluoridate its water supply.
Woy Woy, NSW (October 21)
On the next day Sylvia and her colleagues organized a second meeting in the Gosford area, this time at the Woy Woy Leagues Club. This was another rather small meeting of about 30 people but it was a very attentive audience. To my delight one of those who came to the meeting was Dr. Mark Diesendorf, Australia’s most informed and articulate spokespersons against fluoridation.
Dr. Mark Diesendorf
Mark has written many articles on fluoridation over the last 20 years or more, which includes the groundbreaking article in Nature in 1986 entitled “The Mystery of Declining Tooth Decay.” In this he showed that there was little difference in tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities in several countries including Australia. He also showed that in Sydney tooth decay was coming down before fluoridation was introduced and continued to decline even after the impact of fluoridation would have been maximized. His calculation is simple but often overlooked. An example should make this clear. If we consider 12-year olds, after 12 years of fluoridation no further decrease in tooth decay in successive “generations” of 12-year olds can be ascribed to fluoridation, since in successive years all 12-year olds will have had 12 years of exposure to fluoridation. Any further declines in tooth decay in 12-year olds must be due to other factors such as better diet, better education etc.
Mark teaches in the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and is the Director of Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd
In the last year Mark spent about eight months writing an excellent book entitled “Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy” which I thoroughly recommend for its insights, clarity and vision. He is currently involved in speaking engagements promoting this book, but he is anxious to get up to speed with the latest scientific studies on the ineffectiveness and dangers of fluoridation so he can rejoin the fray.
In the preface of Mark’s latest book he writes this about the central driving force of his career: “I wanted to do science for the community at large, not for the powerful elite groups that dominate research: the military, big business, government and the professions. This turned out to be quite difficult, because it is these vested interests that provide most of the funding for science. So, for several years I had to follow two simultaneous job pathways, one as a paid researcher and academic, and the other as an unpaid ‘public interest scientist’.”
Even though Mark is clearly one of Australia’s brightest minds (his PhD thesis was on the physics of dense plasmas, those very hot ionized gases that exist in the centre of our Sun and other stars – work which, to his horror, was used by Lawrence Livermore labs in the analysis of what happens in the middle of hydrogen bomb explosions) and is highly respected for his work on sustainable energy, his work fighting fluoridation has been seen by many of his colleagues as an aberration. Such an attitude clearly demonstrates the successful brainwashing that has taken place in Australia – as in the United States – even reaching in the ranks of Academia. Historians will have a field day with this – and a big laugh when they actually examine the evidence (or rather lack of it) that props up the prevailing trust in “authority” on this issue.
I drove back from the Woy Woy to Sydney with Mark and stayed overnight in his home. We watched the debate between the Prime minister John Howard and the leader of the Labor party Mr. Rudd. It is generally agreed that Rudd won this debate hands down.
Melbourne and Geelong, Victoria (October 22)
The next day I flew from Sydney to Melbourne and it was enormously exciting to meet up again with two of the three musketeers from Geelong when I arrived. Keith Oakley and David McRae drove me to a TV station where I had an interview with a major TV network. Fingers crossed that this goes national and is not suppressed by the promoters who have a long track record of doing so. If this interview airs, these few minutes would be worth every penny in time and effort of those who organized my tour. After the interview we joined up with three other notable fighters of fluoridation Dr. Noel Campbell, David Hanborn and Genevieve O’Connell (Genevieve was the media officer for my 2004 tour of Australia). Then onto Geelong, which is confronted with a massive new governmental effort to fluoridate their water.
After an overnight in Keith Oakley’s home, the next morning we were joined by Geelong’s third musketeer Philip (Buzz) Robertson. Buzz is the naturopath who who has taken a very special interest in those who have a sensitivity to fluoride. He was featured on a Channel 7 program broadcast from South Australia. This excellent 8 minute program “Fluoride Dangers” can be viewed on Google video and can be accessed from the FAN home page at http://www.FluorideAction.net (ninth item down).
Ballarat, Victoria (October 23)
After a couple of radio interviews and an interview at the offices of the Gellong Advertiser (see more about that below) Keith, Buzz and I drove to Ballarat, which is about 100 kilometers from Geelong. Ballarat is an old gold mining town and is famous historically for the resistance that local miners gave to the government efforts to end a strike there (I believe several miners were killed). The town is showing the same spirit of resistance to government enforced fluoridation. The unions have again threatened to refuse to open the taps if they attempt to fluoridate Ballarat without a referendum.
This was my third visit to Ballarat and the third time that local organizers were unable to persuade any of the handful of vociferous fluoridation promoters to debate me on the issue. It was a joy to meet up again with local organizer Alwyn Anstis, his wife and their two beautiful children. With others, they organized a meeting in the local technical college (which used to be a brewery, an interesting reversal!) which was extremely well attended. All seats were taken and extra ones had to be brought in.
Participating in the same meeting was Dr. Andrew Harms, a dentist from South Australia, who had once promoted fluoridation (see below) but now is very actively opposed. In this meeting we came up with a formula which we were to repeat in Warnaambool and Geelong. We gave our presentation in three parts:
1. I started off with power point slides (prepared by Dr. Bill Osmunson, Dr. Kathleen Thiessen, Chris Neurath and Michael Connett) which convincingly demonstrate that there is no relationship between fluoridation status and the quality of children’s teeth whether one is comparing countries (This figure was prepared by Chris Neurath and a similar figure has since appeared in the British Medical Journal); comparing US states (Osmunson and Thiessen); comparing counties in NY State (Michael Connett) or counties in Washington state (Bill Osmunson).
2. Then Dr. Harms explained why he had changed his mind on fluoridation.
3. I concluded by summarizing the evidence in the NRC (2006) report and elsewhere which indicates that there is no margin of safety for a whole population (which includes the very young, the very old, the very sick, people with impaired kidney function and people with poor nutrition, especially those with borderline iodine deficiency), drinking uncontrolled amounts of fluoride as well as receiving fluoride from other sources.
The whole meeting was taped by ABC radio.
The report in the paper the next day was short but fair and powerful (see below). This article contained a phrase which excited my wife who has placed it at the top of our home page:
“There’s going to be a heavy price to pay when you separate honest science from public policy and when you separate people from decisions which affect their health.”
The paper also printed a letter from someone who extolled the virtues of fluoridation but this same person failed to attend the meeting to test these views in a venue where they could be rebutted. Before leaving for Warnaambool, Andrew and I were interviewed on two radio stations.
“Ballarat Fluoride Debate, Not effective, detrimental” by Danielle Perkins, The Courier (Ballarat), Wednesday 24 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3127.html
Dr. Andrew Harms
I traveled with Andrew for three days and what a delightful companion he is. He is full of fun and wisdom. He explained to me how he had once been the president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Dental Association. In that capacity he had helped to spread fluoridation to some rural towns in South Australia. He saw the light when he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer and forced to take a break from his busy practice for a few months. During that period he had the time to read and to think about many things, including fluoridation. He, like many others who actually read the literature, was appalled a) by what he had found out and b) that he had been duped by his professional body for so long. Like Dr. John Colquhoun, Dr. Hardy Limeback, Dr. David Kennedy and other prominent dentists before him, he had the courage to speak up in public about the unacceptability of this practice.
Perhaps we should insist that dentists everywhere take a forced break so that they can read up on this subject. If a few more were to do this, perhaps even at this late date this profession might be rescued from its blind promotion of this silly practice.
One amusing story that Andrew relates is how the Australian Dental Association, after he went public, told him that he couldn’t state in public that he had once been the president of the South Australian branch of the Association! He says that “they can’t change history. I was the president and they can’t prevent me from stating that.”
I don’t believe that anyone is going to be able to shut Andrew up. As such he is a formidable weapon in the battle to end fluoridation in Australia. Andrew stresses that once you have seen the possibility that your life might end at the age of 45, it puts things in a much better perspective as far as telling the truth about the important things in your life.
Andrew is going to get his first big challenge in the town of Mount Gambier. This South Australian town is currently considering fluoridation but according to Andrew it is known for its independent spirit. He doesn’t think it will be pushed around by pressures from Adelaide on this issue. Andrew will be speaking at an upcoming meeting there. See the report below.
Mount Gambier: Meeting to vote on fluoride issue, ABC South East SA (South Australia), Tuesday 23 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3122.html
Warnaambool, Victoria (October 24)
From Ballarat, Andrew and I drove to Warnaambool. Since my visit there in 2004, things have heated up considerably in the fluoridation battle. I was very impressed with the tough highly professional group of people leading the fight. A few weeks ago, the town held a meeting with the largest attendance in its history (over 800).
On the same day that we arrived in Warnaambool, Dr. John Carnie the chief health officer of Victoria, chose to visit the city. However, when he was invited to come and present his views at the same meeting of invited medical and dental professionals that Dr Harms and I were to address, he refused. In the report in the paper the next day he was quoted as saying that he was in Warnaambool “to outline the facts and dispel the myths about water fluoridation.”
When asked why he didn’t do the obvious thing and present the facts at the professionals meeting he said, “Us going to that meeting and engaging in some kind of public slanging match doesn’t help the cause of science … If there are people who are genuinely undecided, these sorts of meetings are not the place where they are going to learn about the science of this.”
I feel fairly confident that those medical professionals who attended that meeting - if asked - would tell Dr. Carnie that they were presented with a great deal of science. I suspect that they would have also told him how insulting his attitude is not only to Dr. Harms and myself but also to those in their profession who came to this meeting and who are genuinely interested in hearing both sides of this issue. Not one at a time in solo performances but on the same platform where evidence can be exchanged and challenged.
Hopefully, someone will tell Dr. Carnie in no uncertain terms that it doesn’t help “the cause of science” to put any scientific subject “beyond debate.” Resolving scientific disputes by higher authorities rather than reviewing the scientific evidence, fell out of favor shortly after Galileo’s dispute with the Pope over 300 years ago.
Despite Dr. Carnie’s absence, the meeting, chaired by Dr. Natalie Ryan, a local GP, proceeded very smoothly. About 130 were in attendance and we heard later that one of the local highly respected surgeons who attended the meeting is organizing his medical colleagues to take up the fight. At the meeting this same surgeon told the audience that he had given his two daughters fluoride tablets and they had both developed dental fluorosis.
Ironically, despite Dr. Carnie’s refusal to attend this meeting, the paper’s coverage the next morning was dominated by his views and not ours. See the two stories below. However, before we left I had a taped interview with the local ABC news station responding to some of Dr. Carnie’s comments. I do not know if this was broadcast or not.
“Victoria’s chief health officer: Fluoride `will happen’” by Shane Fowles, The Standard (Warrnambool), Thursday 25 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3130.html
“It’s a gamble, says US professor,” The Standard (Warrnambool), Thursday 25 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3131.html
Geelong, Victoria (October 25)
And so we drove back to Geelong: the third point of the iron triangle (Ballarat, Warnaambool and Geelong) opposing forced fluoridation in Victoria. Like Ballarat, the last time that they tried to fluoridate Geelong the unions refused to open the valves at the water plant. For many years it looked as if the government would not be foolish enough to attempt the exercise again. The citizens are very well organized and local MPS have thrown in their support. However, the government has come up with a powerful ploy. Geelong is short of water and the plan is that they will get a boost via a pipeline from Melbourne. There is the catch. Melbourne’s water is fluoridated so Geelong must fluoridate theirs as well. Or so they say. At the meeting (discussed below) we learned that there are other sources.
David McRae set up an excellent meeting. He chose a brilliant venue for the meeting – the Geelong football stadium. The football in question is a peculiarly Australian affair played on an oval field with rules looking like a hybrid of soccer and rugby. However, here is the important detail. The Geelong team this year won the Australian championship for the first time in over 40 years. The town went wild. The slogan “Go Cats Go” can easily be amended to “Go Cats Go, No Fluoride No!” which was chanted at the end of the meeting.
The room used was actually part of the stand which overlooks the field. Well over 200 people attended the meeting. It was chaired by a local vet. Two MPs were in attendance – but once again no proponents had the guts to show their faces. The meeting went very well, but the next morning the local paper (the Geelong Advertiser) delivered a kick in the teeth. To understand the outrage I feel about this I need to give a little background.
Earlier in the week before setting out to Ballarat, Buzz, David, Keith and I had, by appointment, visited the offices of the Advertiser. There, using the power point presentation on my lap top, I shared the evidence with the reporter (Michaela Farrington) that fluoridation was neither effective nor safe. I even allowed her to transfer a copy of the power point presentation to her computer. Our hope, of course, was that the paper would use this material in an article before the meeting to encourage attendance. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, the reporter shared this material with Dr. Vaughan, a local oncologist who is now head of the Barwon Water board which has endorsed fluoridation.
When we opened the paper the next morning expecting to find a story about our very successful meeting that was not what greeted us. Instead the headline was “Geelong Fluoride ‘Fright’”. The article was given over to an attack on the opponents of fluoridation. Here is the full article:
BARWON Water board chairman Stephen Vaughan yesterday accused anti-fluoride groups of scaremongering and running a “guerrilla campaign'’ of misinformation.
Speaking ahead of a public meeting on fluoride, Mr Vaughan said anti-fluoride groups used a “raft of unsubstantiated claims'’ to try to frighten people about fluoride in the water supply.
Mr Vaughan said there was overwhelming evidence that fluoride was safe and an effective way to prevent tooth decay.
He said 80 per cent of the Victorian population had been receiving fluoride in their water supply for 25 years and had the same health outcomes as the 20 per cent of people without fluoride in their water.
Mr Vaughan, who is also a cancer specialist and has appeared as an expert witness in hundreds of court cases, said claims that fluoride caused a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma were outrageous.
“There is no evidence that osteosarcoma is caused by fluoridation and it’s outrageous to make that suggestion,'’ he said.
“It is unscientific and unsubstantiated.'’
He said suggestions that fluoride in their water supply reduced intelligence were “ridiculous'’ and without foundation.
“They’re not using the scientific evidence that is available and it makes it very difficult to have a good public discussion on an important public health issue,'’ he said.
“The anti-fluoride movement is scaremongering of the worst sort.
“This is a serious matter and making silly, unsubstantiated statements does not help the debate.'’
Mr Vaughan said the government, not Barwon Water, made the decision to fluoridate Geelong’s water supply.
“But the Barwon Water board supports fluoridation, unanimously,'’ he said.
Earlier in the week, New York chemistry professor Paul Connett, who is opposed to fluoridation, said there was evidence that fluoride could have a negative impact on health.
What sickened me is that this diatribe comes from a man who didn’t have the guts to show his face at the meeting. Had he done so he would have learned that his spoutings about our “unscientific and outrageous” claims were totally false.
In the Geelong Advertiser, underneath Vaughan’s offensive and inaccurate tirade, the paper gave a short summary of the meeting, but clearly the reporter’s deadline did not allow her to wait until the third section where I presented the evidence of harm. The URLs for both articles are below.
I received some justice from another newspaper serving Geelong, the Surf Coast Times. Reporter Alison Aphrys wrote in its October 30 edition:
US anti-fluoride campaigner Professor Connett, who was a guest speaker at the Forum, has slammed Barwon Water board chairman Stephen Vaughan for defending fluoridation. He said that he was shocked by comments by Vaughan that were quoted in a Geelong paper on Friday. In the paper Vaughan accused anti-fluoride groups as scaremongering and running a “guerilla campaign” of misinformation.
If he had listened to my presentation and then criticized the studies I cited, then that would be one thing. But to have this complete dismissal and be slagged off in this way is unacceptable,” he said.
“Geelong fluoride `fright’” by Michaela Farrington, The Geelong Advertiser, Friday 26 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3138.html
“Poverty and diet to blame, not lack of fluoride” by Kerri-Ann Hobbs, The Geelong Advertiser, Friday 26 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3136.html
Brisbane, Queensland (October 26-28)
On October 26 I flew back to Brisbane to rejoin the Ryans hastily putting in the last minute touches to the two day “Combined Scientific and Environmental Symposium” that was held at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Helping Jeanie was the indefatigable fighter against fluoridation – Ailsa Boyden. Key players, assisting Jeanie Ryan in the organization of this symposium were Merilyn Haines (president of Queenslanders Against Water Fluoridation) and other QAWF members such as Angus McQueen, Jeanette Beauchamp, Philip Higson et al.
Ailsa Boyden
Ailsa lives in Mackay, Queensland, and edits the bulletins for the Australian Fluoridation Information Network. She has probably done more than any other Australian to bring the fighters against fluoridation in Australia into one network. This has not been easy to do because Australia is such a large country and it is very difficult to get everyone together in one room. realistically it can only be done via email. Thus, although the email exchanges are plentiful, many of the key players have never met in person.
The Brisbane Conference (October 27-28)
Perhaps the simplest way I can give you a flavor of this conference is to list the titles of the presentations and names of the presenters:
Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Dr. Mark Donohoe
Dioxins and Waste Management, Professor Paul Connett
The Cancer Diet, Henry Oslecki
Chronic Fatigue, Angela Carroll
The Food Sensitive Patient, Jeanie Ryan
Cell Protection in a Toxic Environment, Christine Houghton
Biochemistry of Fluorides, Professor Paul Connett
Recycled Water, Dr. Peter Pollard
Water Fluoridation, Professor Paul Connett
Eliminating Environmental Hazards, Dr. Mark Donohoe
Heavy Metal Toxicity and Thyroid Function, Louise O’Connor
Dr. Mark Donohue
I was particularly impressed listening to the two presentations made by Dr. Mark Donohue, a world authority on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Mark is extremely outspoken and he made very clear his utter disdain for those in the medical community who treat “multiple chemical sensitivity” as a mental problem offering only anti-depressants as a “cure.” What also came out in both his talks was his tremendous empathy for the sufferers of this condition. Mark is also strongly opposed to water fluoridation and has signed the Professionals’ Statement calling for an end to the practice worldwide. At least another dozen attendees of the symposium did likewise. For a complete list of over 1100 signers to date, go to our home page at http://www.FluorideAction.net
Departments of Health versus Departments of Disease
To the best of our knowledge no one from the Princess Alexandra Hospital or Queensland Health bothered to attend these lectures, despite the fact that they were given right under their noses. This ties in with one of the ideas I picked up when I was in Australia. This was the notion that we should be re-naming “departments of health” by their more appropriate name of “departments of disease.” Departments of Health would be staffed by doctors and nurses who have studied nutrition and all the other things we need to keep ourselves healthy. Departments of Disease should be reserved for when we fail at this primary task. It is a modern tragedy that so many doctors today are not trained in nutrition, nor environmental toxicology. Nor, of course, are they trained to recognize the symptoms of fluoride sensitivity, nor its long term effects.
Conclusion
That ends my description of my fifth tour of Australia. I count myself very privileged to have met most of the people fighting fluoridation in Australia in person. I wish everyone could have this experience and meet each of these very special people - not only in Australia but in other countries as well. None is in it for money, in fact many have to dig deep into their own pockets. None is in it for personal acclaim, in fact many are subjected to abuse by the rabid promoters of this foolish practice. None is in it for power, far from it. They do however, often at great expense to their personal lives, insist on speaking truth to power. They do it for their children, their grandchildren and the communities in which they live. They do it because they have studied the issue and know when they are being misled. They do it because they believe that government should protect them not threaten them. They do it because they still believe that truth has a role to play in public life. They reject the cynical admonition from one of Henrik Ibsen’s fictional characters (I suspect from his play “Enemy of the People”) who said, “Do not use that foreign word ‘ideals’. We have that excellent native word ‘lies’” ( Logos Quotes
Thank you to all of those who made my visit to Australia such an enjoyable and meaningful experience. You all certainly lived up to my number one recommendation to grass roots activists: Have Fun! I hope the trip did some good.
Paul Connett
————————————
FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK
http://www.FluorideAction.net
FAN Bulletin 884: Australian Tour (Oct 14-28)
November 4, 2007
Dear All,
The number above is correct – the last bulletin was distributed out of sequence. This bulletin is already far too long, please check the Latest News section on our home page for some other important developments. Go to http://www.FluorideAction.net
Preface
I have just concluded my fifth trip to Australia. Here is an account. It is rather long (much longer than I anticipated when I began my short summary!) and sometimes rather personal. Making it any shorter and less personal, I think would have been a disservice to the many people working night and day on this issue. It should interest our friends in Australia. In addition, it might provide some pointers for those fighting fluoridation in other countries. The tactics of the proponents are strikingly similar in many countries which promote this practice. If nothing else please read the short sections on Dr. Mark Diesendorf, Dr. Andrew Harms and Dr. Mark Donohue as well as the conclusion.
Australia and fluoridation
Australia is one of only eight countries in which over 50% of the population is drinking fluoridated water. These are: Australia, Columbia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. Like most of these countries Australia has done no health studies on fluoridation on any tissue except the teeth. This, despite the fact that in 1991 its National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommended that it do so.
Instead of health studies the Australian authorities rely on second hand reviews largely from other countries. However, they are highly selective in which overseas evidence and advice they choose to follow. For example, they have largely ignored the NRC (2006) review and discounted the American Dental Association (ADA) advice to parents not use to fluoridated water to make up baby formula in the first year of the baby’s life, erroneously claiming that this advice was based on American formula containing fluoride (Australian Dental Association) and inaccurately claiming that the warning was directed towards the use of water containing 2-4 ppm (Carnie, chief health officer of Victoria).
The Australian authortities frequently cite the WHO’s endorsement of fluoridation without mentioning the WHO caveat that local decision makers before fluoridating should check current levels of exposure to fluoride from other sources. Were such checks made – based on dental fluorosis rates - this would rule out fluoridation in most communities.
In this matter, Australia represents two extremes: on the one hand, the government bureaucrats promoting this practice are the least informed and the most arrogant that I have experienced anywhere in the world, and on the other, the citizens opposing the practice are as well organized and dedicated as any I have met. I hope I can do justice to both of these extremes in the account that follows.
Previous trips
In the 1990s I was invited to Sydney by the South Sydney City Council to help close the trash incinerator in the suburb of Waterloo. In 2002 and 2003 I was invited by Greenpeace to help fight incinerator proposals in Perth, Tasmania and Sydney. In 2004 I used frequent flyer miles to do a tour entirely devoted to flighting fluoridation proposals in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
It was during the 2002 trip that I first made contact with citizens fighting fluoridation. I remember vividly my first meeting with the three musketeers from Geelong (Buzz Robertson, Keith Oakley and David McRae). We met at Melbourne airport and the first thing we did was to go to a costume shop and pick up a life size chicken outfit. I was later to debate this chicken (suitably stuffed with pro-fluoridation literature and christened Dr. Cluck) at a public meeting in Geelong, in lieu of the willingness of any pro-fluoridation person from the community or the Australian Dental Association or the Victorian state health authorities to debate me in person.
Chickens in government
This failure by proponents to defend their position in 2002 was repeated during my 2003 and 2004 trips and the tour I have just completed. Apart from one showdown with a single Veterinarian in Hamilton, Victoria in 2004, the proponents have failed miserably to match their inflated rhetoric and enthusiasm for fluoridation with a willingness to debate their case in public. They can only do this in solo performances and in PR crafted leaflets. They fair no better in private meetings or when asked to provide answers in writing to our “hard” questions, rather than the “soft” questions they pose themselves in their PR material. They get away with it because the press does not seem to care about their unwillingness to defend their assertions in debate and still defers to their “authority.”
In one such meeting in 2004, I asked Dr. Robert Hall, the chief health officer for the state of Victoria, if he had read the “50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation.” He said that he had but it hadn’t changed his mind about the “safety and effectiveness” of water fluoridation. I then asked him if he would respond to the “50 Reasons” in writing. His reply was stunning, he said: “Neither I, nor my staff, have any intention of doing that.”
I then asked Dr. Hall, “if fluoride is so important for children’s teeth why is it that the level in mothers milk is so low (0.004 ppm)?” and his reply was equally stunning. He said, “So nature has dealt some children a raw deal.” Since 2004 Dr Robert Hall has been fired because of another issue. His successor, Dr. John Carnie, is proving just as arrogant as Dr. Hall on fluoridation and as equally unprepared to defend his position in public debate, even when invited to do so in front of a group of medical and dental professionals (see below).
The recent tour
For this recent tour I used frequent flyer miles to get to Australia. All my food, travel and accommodations were provided by local citizens’ groups. Where possible I stayed in people’s homes. I received no honoraria for my talks. The tour began and ended in Brisbane at the home of Dr. John and Jeanie Ryan. Jeanie is a dietician and a nurse. John is a highly respected doctor who specializes in holistic medicine. Jeanie organized a two day (October 27, 28) conference at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane entitled “Combined Environmental Scientific Symposium.” When fluoridation proponents got wind of the fact that the symposium would include a discussion of fluoridation they persuaded the hospital to pull the plug on the venue. However, after some hasty phone calls to some important officials in the state government, the hospital authorities had to relent and the conference went ahead – but with a notice on the podium from both the hospital and Health Queensland that they did not endorse the views presented at the conference! More about this conference below.
Lismore, New South Wales (October 15)
On the day after I arrived in Brisbane, I was picked up from the Ryans’ home by Merilyn Haines who was accompanied by Jennifer Sharp. Merilyn drove me to Lismore in NSW. Merilyn has added considerable strength to the resistance to fluoridation in Queensland and neighboring NSW. She and Jeanie form a very strong team.
In Lismore we met up with Dr. Colin Locke (Col) and others from the local group. A few days before I arrived in Lismore the town was hit with a violent hail storm which did a lot of damage including smashing the car of my host for the evening. A few days after I left, Lismore was hit by a hurricane. For local folks, I guess my visit was a somewhat calm moment between these two storms! The meeting was jointly organized with citizens from the nearby town of Casino and was held in the local union hall. About 60 people attended this and we got a very nice article in the local newspaper.
Kempsey, NSW (October 16, 17)
The next day I took a train to Kempsey (on the Mid-North Coast of NSW) where I was met by Peter Clarke and Pat Wheeldon. Both Pat and Peter had been present at my previous presentation in Kempsey in 2004. I stayed with Peter and his wife Pam in their lovely home outside Kempsey. I was quickly made aware that I was truly in Australia when I saw wallabies and kangaroos (all shapes and sizes) jumping around in their back garden which abuts crown protected bush land. Other treats were the very loud frogs on their veranda and a tame magpie which would come to their kitchen and eat out of their hands.
The attendance at the meeting in Kempsey was very disappointing. Counting both the organizers and myself we had just 12 people. This was not through any lack of effort on behalf of the organizers. However, this poor attendance was offset by three things 1) an excellent article in the weekly newspaper (perhaps the longest and best of the trip), see the URL below; 2) an excellent live interview on ABC radio which went out during drive time in the morning after the meeting. This station reaches much of the mid-North Coast region. This was great because it reached the next community I was visiting - Port Macquarie - which probably increased the attendance there the following evening (see below) and 3) one of the attendees was 16 year old named Jesse who stayed up the night before until 4 am reading and watching – with ever widening eyes – the literature and videos on fluoridation. Being a whiz on computers he could well turn out to be a wonderful asset to Peter and the other folks fighting fluoridation in Kempsey. He has already produced a compilation of the videos on one DVD with startling opening graphics. We need this influx of young blood.
In the ABC radio interview I drew attention to the fact that once again the number one promoter of fluoridation in NSW – Mr. John Irving (project director, North Coast Area Health Service of NSW)– had ducked the opportunity to debate me in public. I also pointed out my amazement that this man, who is telling people how safe fluoridation is, has no medical or scientific qualifications. His background is in organic farming – a noble pursuit but hardly one which qualifies him to make pronouncements about health issues. The next morning – on the same program – Mr. Irving was interviewed. He conceded that his “hobby” is organic farming but for many years he has been spokesperson for the North Coast Area Health Service on a number of public health issues like smoking. That sounds like a PR person to me – not a medical expert. As such he should not be giving health advice to citizens or government officials.
When Mr. Irving was asked if he had read the NRC report, he said that he had but then quickly added that he only had to read a few pages to discover that it had nothing to do with water fluoridation. I conclude that he only read a few pages of this report. Had he read the exposure analysis (chapter 2) and the chapters on health end points he would have found that this report has a lot to do with water fluoridation. So much for the qualifications of those who are trying to bamboozle every last remaining town in NSW into fluoridating their water supply.
The technique that was used very effectively by these fluoridation pushers in NSW was to say to local town councils a) you can either make the decision yourselves or b) pass the decision onto the state health department’s expert committee. The latter inevitably led to a decision to fluoridate but conveniently got the local councilors off the political hook from making the decision themselves. Or so they thought. When the people found out all hell broke loose in many towns, including Kempsey, Coff’s Harbor and Port Macquarie.
In Kempsey, after the citizens protested loudly against the decision to fluoridate, and the councilors discovered it was going to cost a lot more than they were originally told, the council wrote to the NSW health department saying that they had changed their minds. But they were told essentially “tough luck, the decision has already been made (in official parlance it had been “gazetted” ) and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Fluoride leaves a bitter taste with prominent New Yorker,” The Macleay Argus (October 24)
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3126.html
Port Macquarie, NSW (October 18)
On October 18, Peter Clarke and Pat Wheeldon, after a splendid swim in the sea and a picnic lunch, drove me down to Port Macquarie, another town in the mid-North coast region of NSW. This was my second visit to Port Macquarie. In 2004 I had addressed a very large mid-day crowd in the town hall. I was sad to learn on my arrival that Don Mackay a spirited local fighter, who I had met on my previous visit, had rather suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. I briefly met his widow.
Currently, the town council of Port Macquarie is in total disarray. A debacle over the citing of a controversial new sports-leisure club has led to the forced resignation of the whole council, including one of Australia’s anti-fluoridation heroes, Councilor Lisa Intemann.
Lisa along with about 50 other people attended the meeting in the local bowling club. After my power point presentation a lively discussion ensued and it quickly turned out that there were some strong allies in the room: including a dentist Caree Alexander and several local naturopaths. Peter Clarke videotaped the presentation. I stayed overnight in the home of Barbara Grant - a very sprightly 82 year old who was one of the organizers of the meeting. Her energy would put the average 40 year old to shame! The next morning Barbara drove me to the airport for my flight to Newcastle.
Newscastle, NSW (October 19)
Newcastle is a large port and industrial area. Sitting out on the sea was a long line of about 100 ships lined up waiting to collect coal and iron ore for export. This city has been fluoridated since the sixties. I stayed in the home of Therese Taylor who designs gardens specializing in native species. One of the “natives” in her own garden was a large water lizard (or dragon!) nicknamed “Junior.” Junior is very tame and will eat out of their hands. Sadly he did not appear while I was there.
They decided on a slightly different approach to get the ball rolling in their community. During the afternoon a series of their friends and colleagues popped in to chat with me informally and in the evening Therese scheduled a showing of the FAN interview with Chris Bryson, “The Fluoride Deception.” This was done at a small theater which shows environmental movies each Friday evening. I gave a shortened version of my power point presentation after the showing. I asked how many people were shocked or surprised by what they had heard. Nearly every hand went up. Hopefully this has planted a few seeds for further efforts in this town.
In my talk I had mentioned that those with borderline iodine deficiency were particularly vulnerable to fluoride’s effect on the thyroid. One woman in the audience then told us that a friend of hers who had come to Australia with other people from the Netherlands, told her that the Dutch passengers were given small bottles of iodine and told to take a drop a day because of the widespread iodine deficiency in the country. She also mentioned that 1 in 5 Australians suffer from depression (according to the NRC (2006) report depression is one of the pre-clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism).
Mingara (near Gosford), NSW (October 20)
The following morning I was picked up by Sylvia Turner another key fighter of fluoridation in NSW. Until recently she was the leader of Central Coast Pure Water Association (CCPWA). She drove me to a recreation club in Mingara where I had lunch with some local councilors and members of the group fighting fluoridation in the town of Gosford. These included a delightful couple who are producing a very colorful cartoon strip designed to educate the public in the battle against fluoridation. It involves two characters “Eddy and Flo” - who are actually water droplets! More information about this cartoon strip can be obtained from their web site at http://ccpurewater.filetap.com (my attempts to load this URL have not worked and I am not sure what the problem is – I will try to found out for a future bulletin).
After lunch I gave my power point presentation to a crowd of about 40 people, including a rather obnoxious heckler. I had been warned that he might be there. When given the microphone after I had finished my talk, he demonstrated just how little he actually knew about the subject. Even so he demonstrated more courage than most officials promoting fluoridation.
Sylvia Turner
I asked Sylvia to send me some information about herself and more background on the local fight against fluoridation in Wyong Shire, Gosford and Woy Woy. This is what she wrote:
Since 1989 I became aware of fluoridation and its dangers through a stalwart in the fight, Maurice Malone. Over the years I have had occasion to assist him with the fight and as a Wyong Shire Councillor from 1991 – 1995 raised the issue seeking support for a community referendum (as Wyong has been fluoridated since 1967) and also organized a Council information session in which Dennis Stevenson spoke against fluoridation, Noel Martin from the Health Dept. also spoke in favour of fluoridation. Despite this, 7 of the 10 Councillors voted against my motion choosing to stick with the Health Dept. Over the years I have maintained my interest and when Maurice needed someone to take over the CCPWA, Tony La Spina and I took up the offer. During 2004 it was clear that the Health Dept. was engineering again to fluoridate still unfluoridated Gosford.
In 1977 and again in 1991 the residents of Gosford voted against fluoridation, but now the Dept. has produced “alarming” results of a survey of Gosford under 5’s having more dental treatment in hospital as compared to fluoridated Wyong Shire (this is a standard tactic used by promoters. Always ask if the study has been peer reviewed and published, PC). I could see the writing was on the wall to have Gosford Council agree to fluoridate. In July 2005 we were successful in stopping fluoridation by the casting vote of the Mayor. In 2006 the Mayoral seat had transferred to a pro-fluoride Councillor and again the subject returned to the Council agenda and in December 2006 we lost the vote once again on the casting vote of the Mayor who had raised the matter as a Mayoral Minute. The legitimacy of the manner of this decision is still questionable. Since then the Council has accepted a tender for 2 fluoridation treatment plants – one at its main plant at Somersby and the other in Woy Woy to treat the groundwater supply they are planning to utilize in this time of drought.
Probably our main problem is enthusing and consolidating the local community to become involved in taking action on this issue. Overall, it is a complex one to appreciate, but given the opportunity you can have most people accept the right to choose and perhaps alarm them with where the product is coming from. Fluoridation and the fight against it have been around for so long that most people just accept it and in particular accept what the Health Dept. has to say.
The media here is pathetic and often biased against us, so it is difficult to even get a fair and equal chance to have our say. Still the battle must continue and I can see, through the actions of people like yourself and others in the larger network that eventually we will get there!
Since your meetings here I have had some contact with the people who attended one of the meetings either by phone, letter or by posting them a copy of your presentation to those who requested it. Michael Linnell on behalf of the CCPWA rang me for attendance lists and also to get a contact for the freelance journalist, Heidrun Rodach, who interviewed you. I have yet to contact Heidrun myself, but hope that the interview with you has spurred her onto writing a piece that presents the case against fluoridation favourably.
Maurice Malone and the Hopewood project.
After the meeting in Mingara I was able to speak with Maurice Malone, who as Sylvia pointed out was for many years the driving force behind the Central Coast Pure Water Association (CCPWA). Maurice is 90 and has been fighting fluoridation for over 50 years! He is a good friend and colleague of Glen Walker (also in his 90’s and still going strong) and also of the late Phillip Sutton (author of “Fluoridation: The Greatest Fraud.”)
Maurice told me a little about his work at the Hopewood Children project. These children received no fluoride but were recorded as having the best teeth in Australia. I found the following information in an article given to me about the project. The article was titled “Dental Studies on Hopewood Children” by Madge Cockburn and appeared in the October/November 1992 issue of Natural Health.
The Hopewood children received a diet which was largely vegetarian. School lunches consisted of cheese, salads, nuts and fruit. Candies and processed foods were avoided. Starting in 1947 the children’s teeth were studied by the Institute of Dental Research at Sydney Dental Hospital and also by Dr. D.Clements, Head of Child Nutrition at Sydney University. Dr. Goldsworthy reported the results of the Hopewood study in the Medical Journal of Australia of February 1960. A copy was sent to all dentists. The brochure stated that “…The relative freedom from dental decay manifested in these children made an orthodontic study of much more value because practically no teeth had been extracted.”
Later the following comparison was published in The Journal of the Commonwealth Department of Health:
“Hopewood House children with caries 22.2%; Sydney children with caries 96%.
Hopewood children 4-9 years, 1 carious tooth between two children; Sydney children 4-9 years, 10 carious teeth per child.”
According to Madge Cockburn, this was at a time “when fluoride was use in the general community. However there was no fluoride in the water used by the Hopewood children.”
Despite this graphic evidence that it is good diet, not ingested fluoride, which is the key to good dentition, Sydney has continued to fluoridate its water supply.
Woy Woy, NSW (October 21)
On the next day Sylvia and her colleagues organized a second meeting in the Gosford area, this time at the Woy Woy Leagues Club. This was another rather small meeting of about 30 people but it was a very attentive audience. To my delight one of those who came to the meeting was Dr. Mark Diesendorf, Australia’s most informed and articulate spokespersons against fluoridation.
Dr. Mark Diesendorf
Mark has written many articles on fluoridation over the last 20 years or more, which includes the groundbreaking article in Nature in 1986 entitled “The Mystery of Declining Tooth Decay.” In this he showed that there was little difference in tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities in several countries including Australia. He also showed that in Sydney tooth decay was coming down before fluoridation was introduced and continued to decline even after the impact of fluoridation would have been maximized. His calculation is simple but often overlooked. An example should make this clear. If we consider 12-year olds, after 12 years of fluoridation no further decrease in tooth decay in successive “generations” of 12-year olds can be ascribed to fluoridation, since in successive years all 12-year olds will have had 12 years of exposure to fluoridation. Any further declines in tooth decay in 12-year olds must be due to other factors such as better diet, better education etc.
Mark teaches in the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and is the Director of Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd
In the last year Mark spent about eight months writing an excellent book entitled “Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy” which I thoroughly recommend for its insights, clarity and vision. He is currently involved in speaking engagements promoting this book, but he is anxious to get up to speed with the latest scientific studies on the ineffectiveness and dangers of fluoridation so he can rejoin the fray.
In the preface of Mark’s latest book he writes this about the central driving force of his career: “I wanted to do science for the community at large, not for the powerful elite groups that dominate research: the military, big business, government and the professions. This turned out to be quite difficult, because it is these vested interests that provide most of the funding for science. So, for several years I had to follow two simultaneous job pathways, one as a paid researcher and academic, and the other as an unpaid ‘public interest scientist’.”
Even though Mark is clearly one of Australia’s brightest minds (his PhD thesis was on the physics of dense plasmas, those very hot ionized gases that exist in the centre of our Sun and other stars – work which, to his horror, was used by Lawrence Livermore labs in the analysis of what happens in the middle of hydrogen bomb explosions) and is highly respected for his work on sustainable energy, his work fighting fluoridation has been seen by many of his colleagues as an aberration. Such an attitude clearly demonstrates the successful brainwashing that has taken place in Australia – as in the United States – even reaching in the ranks of Academia. Historians will have a field day with this – and a big laugh when they actually examine the evidence (or rather lack of it) that props up the prevailing trust in “authority” on this issue.
I drove back from the Woy Woy to Sydney with Mark and stayed overnight in his home. We watched the debate between the Prime minister John Howard and the leader of the Labor party Mr. Rudd. It is generally agreed that Rudd won this debate hands down.
Melbourne and Geelong, Victoria (October 22)
The next day I flew from Sydney to Melbourne and it was enormously exciting to meet up again with two of the three musketeers from Geelong when I arrived. Keith Oakley and David McRae drove me to a TV station where I had an interview with a major TV network. Fingers crossed that this goes national and is not suppressed by the promoters who have a long track record of doing so. If this interview airs, these few minutes would be worth every penny in time and effort of those who organized my tour. After the interview we joined up with three other notable fighters of fluoridation Dr. Noel Campbell, David Hanborn and Genevieve O’Connell (Genevieve was the media officer for my 2004 tour of Australia). Then onto Geelong, which is confronted with a massive new governmental effort to fluoridate their water.
After an overnight in Keith Oakley’s home, the next morning we were joined by Geelong’s third musketeer Philip (Buzz) Robertson. Buzz is the naturopath who who has taken a very special interest in those who have a sensitivity to fluoride. He was featured on a Channel 7 program broadcast from South Australia. This excellent 8 minute program “Fluoride Dangers” can be viewed on Google video and can be accessed from the FAN home page at http://www.FluorideAction.net (ninth item down).
Ballarat, Victoria (October 23)
After a couple of radio interviews and an interview at the offices of the Gellong Advertiser (see more about that below) Keith, Buzz and I drove to Ballarat, which is about 100 kilometers from Geelong. Ballarat is an old gold mining town and is famous historically for the resistance that local miners gave to the government efforts to end a strike there (I believe several miners were killed). The town is showing the same spirit of resistance to government enforced fluoridation. The unions have again threatened to refuse to open the taps if they attempt to fluoridate Ballarat without a referendum.
This was my third visit to Ballarat and the third time that local organizers were unable to persuade any of the handful of vociferous fluoridation promoters to debate me on the issue. It was a joy to meet up again with local organizer Alwyn Anstis, his wife and their two beautiful children. With others, they organized a meeting in the local technical college (which used to be a brewery, an interesting reversal!) which was extremely well attended. All seats were taken and extra ones had to be brought in.
Participating in the same meeting was Dr. Andrew Harms, a dentist from South Australia, who had once promoted fluoridation (see below) but now is very actively opposed. In this meeting we came up with a formula which we were to repeat in Warnaambool and Geelong. We gave our presentation in three parts:
1. I started off with power point slides (prepared by Dr. Bill Osmunson, Dr. Kathleen Thiessen, Chris Neurath and Michael Connett) which convincingly demonstrate that there is no relationship between fluoridation status and the quality of children’s teeth whether one is comparing countries (This figure was prepared by Chris Neurath and a similar figure has since appeared in the British Medical Journal); comparing US states (Osmunson and Thiessen); comparing counties in NY State (Michael Connett) or counties in Washington state (Bill Osmunson).
2. Then Dr. Harms explained why he had changed his mind on fluoridation.
3. I concluded by summarizing the evidence in the NRC (2006) report and elsewhere which indicates that there is no margin of safety for a whole population (which includes the very young, the very old, the very sick, people with impaired kidney function and people with poor nutrition, especially those with borderline iodine deficiency), drinking uncontrolled amounts of fluoride as well as receiving fluoride from other sources.
The whole meeting was taped by ABC radio.
The report in the paper the next day was short but fair and powerful (see below). This article contained a phrase which excited my wife who has placed it at the top of our home page:
“There’s going to be a heavy price to pay when you separate honest science from public policy and when you separate people from decisions which affect their health.”
The paper also printed a letter from someone who extolled the virtues of fluoridation but this same person failed to attend the meeting to test these views in a venue where they could be rebutted. Before leaving for Warnaambool, Andrew and I were interviewed on two radio stations.
“Ballarat Fluoride Debate, Not effective, detrimental” by Danielle Perkins, The Courier (Ballarat), Wednesday 24 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3127.html
Dr. Andrew Harms
I traveled with Andrew for three days and what a delightful companion he is. He is full of fun and wisdom. He explained to me how he had once been the president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Dental Association. In that capacity he had helped to spread fluoridation to some rural towns in South Australia. He saw the light when he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer and forced to take a break from his busy practice for a few months. During that period he had the time to read and to think about many things, including fluoridation. He, like many others who actually read the literature, was appalled a) by what he had found out and b) that he had been duped by his professional body for so long. Like Dr. John Colquhoun, Dr. Hardy Limeback, Dr. David Kennedy and other prominent dentists before him, he had the courage to speak up in public about the unacceptability of this practice.
Perhaps we should insist that dentists everywhere take a forced break so that they can read up on this subject. If a few more were to do this, perhaps even at this late date this profession might be rescued from its blind promotion of this silly practice.
One amusing story that Andrew relates is how the Australian Dental Association, after he went public, told him that he couldn’t state in public that he had once been the president of the South Australian branch of the Association! He says that “they can’t change history. I was the president and they can’t prevent me from stating that.”
I don’t believe that anyone is going to be able to shut Andrew up. As such he is a formidable weapon in the battle to end fluoridation in Australia. Andrew stresses that once you have seen the possibility that your life might end at the age of 45, it puts things in a much better perspective as far as telling the truth about the important things in your life.
Andrew is going to get his first big challenge in the town of Mount Gambier. This South Australian town is currently considering fluoridation but according to Andrew it is known for its independent spirit. He doesn’t think it will be pushed around by pressures from Adelaide on this issue. Andrew will be speaking at an upcoming meeting there. See the report below.
Mount Gambier: Meeting to vote on fluoride issue, ABC South East SA (South Australia), Tuesday 23 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3122.html
Warnaambool, Victoria (October 24)
From Ballarat, Andrew and I drove to Warnaambool. Since my visit there in 2004, things have heated up considerably in the fluoridation battle. I was very impressed with the tough highly professional group of people leading the fight. A few weeks ago, the town held a meeting with the largest attendance in its history (over 800).
On the same day that we arrived in Warnaambool, Dr. John Carnie the chief health officer of Victoria, chose to visit the city. However, when he was invited to come and present his views at the same meeting of invited medical and dental professionals that Dr Harms and I were to address, he refused. In the report in the paper the next day he was quoted as saying that he was in Warnaambool “to outline the facts and dispel the myths about water fluoridation.”
When asked why he didn’t do the obvious thing and present the facts at the professionals meeting he said, “Us going to that meeting and engaging in some kind of public slanging match doesn’t help the cause of science … If there are people who are genuinely undecided, these sorts of meetings are not the place where they are going to learn about the science of this.”
I feel fairly confident that those medical professionals who attended that meeting - if asked - would tell Dr. Carnie that they were presented with a great deal of science. I suspect that they would have also told him how insulting his attitude is not only to Dr. Harms and myself but also to those in their profession who came to this meeting and who are genuinely interested in hearing both sides of this issue. Not one at a time in solo performances but on the same platform where evidence can be exchanged and challenged.
Hopefully, someone will tell Dr. Carnie in no uncertain terms that it doesn’t help “the cause of science” to put any scientific subject “beyond debate.” Resolving scientific disputes by higher authorities rather than reviewing the scientific evidence, fell out of favor shortly after Galileo’s dispute with the Pope over 300 years ago.
Despite Dr. Carnie’s absence, the meeting, chaired by Dr. Natalie Ryan, a local GP, proceeded very smoothly. About 130 were in attendance and we heard later that one of the local highly respected surgeons who attended the meeting is organizing his medical colleagues to take up the fight. At the meeting this same surgeon told the audience that he had given his two daughters fluoride tablets and they had both developed dental fluorosis.
Ironically, despite Dr. Carnie’s refusal to attend this meeting, the paper’s coverage the next morning was dominated by his views and not ours. See the two stories below. However, before we left I had a taped interview with the local ABC news station responding to some of Dr. Carnie’s comments. I do not know if this was broadcast or not.
“Victoria’s chief health officer: Fluoride `will happen’” by Shane Fowles, The Standard (Warrnambool), Thursday 25 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3130.html
“It’s a gamble, says US professor,” The Standard (Warrnambool), Thursday 25 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3131.html
Geelong, Victoria (October 25)
And so we drove back to Geelong: the third point of the iron triangle (Ballarat, Warnaambool and Geelong) opposing forced fluoridation in Victoria. Like Ballarat, the last time that they tried to fluoridate Geelong the unions refused to open the valves at the water plant. For many years it looked as if the government would not be foolish enough to attempt the exercise again. The citizens are very well organized and local MPS have thrown in their support. However, the government has come up with a powerful ploy. Geelong is short of water and the plan is that they will get a boost via a pipeline from Melbourne. There is the catch. Melbourne’s water is fluoridated so Geelong must fluoridate theirs as well. Or so they say. At the meeting (discussed below) we learned that there are other sources.
David McRae set up an excellent meeting. He chose a brilliant venue for the meeting – the Geelong football stadium. The football in question is a peculiarly Australian affair played on an oval field with rules looking like a hybrid of soccer and rugby. However, here is the important detail. The Geelong team this year won the Australian championship for the first time in over 40 years. The town went wild. The slogan “Go Cats Go” can easily be amended to “Go Cats Go, No Fluoride No!” which was chanted at the end of the meeting.
The room used was actually part of the stand which overlooks the field. Well over 200 people attended the meeting. It was chaired by a local vet. Two MPs were in attendance – but once again no proponents had the guts to show their faces. The meeting went very well, but the next morning the local paper (the Geelong Advertiser) delivered a kick in the teeth. To understand the outrage I feel about this I need to give a little background.
Earlier in the week before setting out to Ballarat, Buzz, David, Keith and I had, by appointment, visited the offices of the Advertiser. There, using the power point presentation on my lap top, I shared the evidence with the reporter (Michaela Farrington) that fluoridation was neither effective nor safe. I even allowed her to transfer a copy of the power point presentation to her computer. Our hope, of course, was that the paper would use this material in an article before the meeting to encourage attendance. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, the reporter shared this material with Dr. Vaughan, a local oncologist who is now head of the Barwon Water board which has endorsed fluoridation.
When we opened the paper the next morning expecting to find a story about our very successful meeting that was not what greeted us. Instead the headline was “Geelong Fluoride ‘Fright’”. The article was given over to an attack on the opponents of fluoridation. Here is the full article:
BARWON Water board chairman Stephen Vaughan yesterday accused anti-fluoride groups of scaremongering and running a “guerrilla campaign'’ of misinformation.
Speaking ahead of a public meeting on fluoride, Mr Vaughan said anti-fluoride groups used a “raft of unsubstantiated claims'’ to try to frighten people about fluoride in the water supply.
Mr Vaughan said there was overwhelming evidence that fluoride was safe and an effective way to prevent tooth decay.
He said 80 per cent of the Victorian population had been receiving fluoride in their water supply for 25 years and had the same health outcomes as the 20 per cent of people without fluoride in their water.
Mr Vaughan, who is also a cancer specialist and has appeared as an expert witness in hundreds of court cases, said claims that fluoride caused a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma were outrageous.
“There is no evidence that osteosarcoma is caused by fluoridation and it’s outrageous to make that suggestion,'’ he said.
“It is unscientific and unsubstantiated.'’
He said suggestions that fluoride in their water supply reduced intelligence were “ridiculous'’ and without foundation.
“They’re not using the scientific evidence that is available and it makes it very difficult to have a good public discussion on an important public health issue,'’ he said.
“The anti-fluoride movement is scaremongering of the worst sort.
“This is a serious matter and making silly, unsubstantiated statements does not help the debate.'’
Mr Vaughan said the government, not Barwon Water, made the decision to fluoridate Geelong’s water supply.
“But the Barwon Water board supports fluoridation, unanimously,'’ he said.
Earlier in the week, New York chemistry professor Paul Connett, who is opposed to fluoridation, said there was evidence that fluoride could have a negative impact on health.
What sickened me is that this diatribe comes from a man who didn’t have the guts to show his face at the meeting. Had he done so he would have learned that his spoutings about our “unscientific and outrageous” claims were totally false.
In the Geelong Advertiser, underneath Vaughan’s offensive and inaccurate tirade, the paper gave a short summary of the meeting, but clearly the reporter’s deadline did not allow her to wait until the third section where I presented the evidence of harm. The URLs for both articles are below.
I received some justice from another newspaper serving Geelong, the Surf Coast Times. Reporter Alison Aphrys wrote in its October 30 edition:
US anti-fluoride campaigner Professor Connett, who was a guest speaker at the Forum, has slammed Barwon Water board chairman Stephen Vaughan for defending fluoridation. He said that he was shocked by comments by Vaughan that were quoted in a Geelong paper on Friday. In the paper Vaughan accused anti-fluoride groups as scaremongering and running a “guerilla campaign” of misinformation.
If he had listened to my presentation and then criticized the studies I cited, then that would be one thing. But to have this complete dismissal and be slagged off in this way is unacceptable,” he said.
“Geelong fluoride `fright’” by Michaela Farrington, The Geelong Advertiser, Friday 26 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3138.html
“Poverty and diet to blame, not lack of fluoride” by Kerri-Ann Hobbs, The Geelong Advertiser, Friday 26 October 2007
http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3136.html
Brisbane, Queensland (October 26-28)
On October 26 I flew back to Brisbane to rejoin the Ryans hastily putting in the last minute touches to the two day “Combined Scientific and Environmental Symposium” that was held at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Helping Jeanie was the indefatigable fighter against fluoridation – Ailsa Boyden. Key players, assisting Jeanie Ryan in the organization of this symposium were Merilyn Haines (president of Queenslanders Against Water Fluoridation) and other QAWF members such as Angus McQueen, Jeanette Beauchamp, Philip Higson et al.
Ailsa Boyden
Ailsa lives in Mackay, Queensland, and edits the bulletins for the Australian Fluoridation Information Network. She has probably done more than any other Australian to bring the fighters against fluoridation in Australia into one network. This has not been easy to do because Australia is such a large country and it is very difficult to get everyone together in one room. realistically it can only be done via email. Thus, although the email exchanges are plentiful, many of the key players have never met in person.
The Brisbane Conference (October 27-28)
Perhaps the simplest way I can give you a flavor of this conference is to list the titles of the presentations and names of the presenters:
Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Dr. Mark Donohoe
Dioxins and Waste Management, Professor Paul Connett
The Cancer Diet, Henry Oslecki
Chronic Fatigue, Angela Carroll
The Food Sensitive Patient, Jeanie Ryan
Cell Protection in a Toxic Environment, Christine Houghton
Biochemistry of Fluorides, Professor Paul Connett
Recycled Water, Dr. Peter Pollard
Water Fluoridation, Professor Paul Connett
Eliminating Environmental Hazards, Dr. Mark Donohoe
Heavy Metal Toxicity and Thyroid Function, Louise O’Connor
Dr. Mark Donohue
I was particularly impressed listening to the two presentations made by Dr. Mark Donohue, a world authority on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Mark is extremely outspoken and he made very clear his utter disdain for those in the medical community who treat “multiple chemical sensitivity” as a mental problem offering only anti-depressants as a “cure.” What also came out in both his talks was his tremendous empathy for the sufferers of this condition. Mark is also strongly opposed to water fluoridation and has signed the Professionals’ Statement calling for an end to the practice worldwide. At least another dozen attendees of the symposium did likewise. For a complete list of over 1100 signers to date, go to our home page at http://www.FluorideAction.net
Departments of Health versus Departments of Disease
To the best of our knowledge no one from the Princess Alexandra Hospital or Queensland Health bothered to attend these lectures, despite the fact that they were given right under their noses. This ties in with one of the ideas I picked up when I was in Australia. This was the notion that we should be re-naming “departments of health” by their more appropriate name of “departments of disease.” Departments of Health would be staffed by doctors and nurses who have studied nutrition and all the other things we need to keep ourselves healthy. Departments of Disease should be reserved for when we fail at this primary task. It is a modern tragedy that so many doctors today are not trained in nutrition, nor environmental toxicology. Nor, of course, are they trained to recognize the symptoms of fluoride sensitivity, nor its long term effects.
Conclusion
That ends my description of my fifth tour of Australia. I count myself very privileged to have met most of the people fighting fluoridation in Australia in person. I wish everyone could have this experience and meet each of these very special people - not only in Australia but in other countries as well. None is in it for money, in fact many have to dig deep into their own pockets. None is in it for personal acclaim, in fact many are subjected to abuse by the rabid promoters of this foolish practice. None is in it for power, far from it. They do however, often at great expense to their personal lives, insist on speaking truth to power. They do it for their children, their grandchildren and the communities in which they live. They do it because they have studied the issue and know when they are being misled. They do it because they believe that government should protect them not threaten them. They do it because they still believe that truth has a role to play in public life. They reject the cynical admonition from one of Henrik Ibsen’s fictional characters (I suspect from his play “Enemy of the People”) who said, “Do not use that foreign word ‘ideals’. We have that excellent native word ‘lies’” ( Logos Quotes
Thank you to all of those who made my visit to Australia such an enjoyable and meaningful experience. You all certainly lived up to my number one recommendation to grass roots activists: Have Fun! I hope the trip did some good.
Paul Connett
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