- SA Government Media Monitoring Service -

RADIO NEWS & TALKBACK PRECIS

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Morning / Lunch Period  (9am–1pm)

Friday, 1 October 2010

RADIO NEWS BROADCASTS

 (Byner: This story is extraordinary. I’ve often said we live in a more privatised dictatorship. We think we’re living in a democracy … but the world is changing. Global companies and privatisation and corporatisation are starting to rule the roost and whether we like it or not it’s what we’re being given. Now most ordinary people would be shocked to know that the fluoride that is put into our water supply is not a pharmaceutical grade product but rather a toxic waste product of the aluminium and phosphate fertiliser industry that’s called Fluorosilic Acid. Now what is interesting … the European court of justice has ruled that when used in water supplies fluoride was then used as a medicine and not to improve water quality and that mass medication was unacceptable for reasons that you would understand. The dosage isn’t regulated for each individual, the frequency of use is not regulated, the necessity of the medication and so on. Now, sodium fluoride is dumped into our water supply because there is no cheaper method of disposal for the aluminium and phosphate industries. And yet, when we were sold … fluoride for your teeth, we all kind of thought – well, yeah, maybe. And there were some lone voices out there years ago that were saying, ‘hang on a minute, you mightn’t be doing the very smart thing’. … adverse effects to fluoride have been noted in peer-reviewed scientific and medical papers. And these are in the America Medical Journal. Now I mentioned a few … mental dullness; I’ve always said, ‘what’s in the water on North Terrace?’. This might explain it. Gastrointestinal problems. The dental fraternity agree that dental fluorosis is caused by over exposure to fluoride or fluoride toxicity. Increase in fractures, hyperactivity and attention deficit. So let’s talk to the person that rang the bell for me … Ann Bressington. … )  Leon, Mount Gambier is due to go online for water fluoridation of their Blue Lake at the end of October- there’s been a group down there called Choice who are protesting about this and trying to get the ear of the minister now for about three years. The minister has refused to meet with them and so has the public health official – so I was interested in this prior to that but I decided I would go down to Mount Gambier … the angst down there is just absolutely enormous. People just do not want this and they are going to be forced to drink this poison. … as the rest of us are already. (Byner: … this is a serious allegation … we have always assumed that the fluoridation of our water supply was for our good and for our dental health. What do you say?) Well the research is there - … doctor AK Sheshila of the [unclear] institute in India has written over 80 published papers on this and has identified from her practice and her medical career that it also has very, very harsh effects on the unborn child. In America now they issue warnings that baby formula should not be reconstituted with fluoridated water. They advise that children under five should not use fluoridated toothpaste and they also put a warning … on that if swallowed to seek advice from a poisons information centre immediately. So this is not, as I said, the problem with this is it’s not pharmaceutical grade and people would have believed that it was. It comes in a chimney stack of the aluminium and phosphate industry. So it’s a toxic, corrosive substance; public health officials will tell us that they are merely topping up what is naturally occurring in our waters. The substance that naturally occurs in our waters is calcium fluoride and it is a completely different substance … and as I said, the evidence is there. I’m asking this government to at least look at the evidence that’s been presented overseas, the papers that have been written and to reconsider this because we’re one of five countries that use fluoride … out of the entire world. The whole of the European Union have rejected it, Sweden was fluoridating for about 20 years. Then got presented with this evidence and pulled it straight away. (Byner:  Today Tonight’s Frank Pangallo is on the case.)

 Frank Pangallo, Today Tonight    (5AA 10.11-10.18)   Water fluoridation

 (Byner: As I said at the outset, everybody listening today will remember that we were sold the idea of fluoride in the water as a health remedy for our teeth.) Yes we were, about forty years ago – it’s been in our water supply for about forty years – there have been no studies done on what the impact of fluoride has on people’s health. Now it is a poison. SA Water every day puts poison in our tap water. And I’ll tell you what it contains … I’ve got a certificate of analysis here in front of me - … it’s got [unclear], arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, iron, lead, mercury, selenium and on it goes and these are in there. Now who in their right mind would want to put poisons in drinking water? Why would you do it? … we’re doing it simply because there’s this belief that it actually reduces tooth decay. But there’s a lot of scientific evidence worldwide now that this isn’t the case at all. … what it does do is it probably kills microbes in your mouth. Now you’re probably get enough fluoride to do that simply by brushing your teeth and there’s nothing wrong with that … that’s fine, you’ll get that. For governments to actually dictate to you and me that ‘we’re going to mass-medicate you’ by putting this stuff in there, I don’t want it. … you may recall that during the state election that you had the government come on about not wanting to – (Byner; Drink rainwater) … because it was all the stuff that was coming off the roads and everything. Yet, every day SA Water puts this stuff in there. – (Byner: … did you approach SA Water about this?) They won’t even talk to me about anything now – the stories I’ve done about – well it’s not SA Water’s decision, it’s a decision made by SA Health to put that in there, and it’s their decision for Mount Gambier’s water supply. (Byner: So has SA Health decided that they wanted to read the peer review documents that we’ve talked about today, which by the way you can get on the internet quite easily and they wanted to withdraw the fluoride, we could do it … tomorrow?) Of course … but they won’t. (Byner: Why won’t they?) Because it’s a bureaucratic decision that’s been made and they certainly don’t want to be seen to be back tracking. But they don’t want to make a brave and informed decision … that’s the problem you’ve got with government today. They’re making decisions for us without us having a say. There’s 1,100 scientists worldwide that have signed a deed about the dangers of fluoride and we’re talking about very eminent people in the world … (Byner: Could you give us a website address and we’ll link it to the 5AA website because I know that people are going to be interested in seeing this and … many have rung over the years about this Frank and I think it’s a very valuable debate that Ann … has brought to you … to the public. Are you running this on Seven tonight?) … we’ve already done several stories – we did one as recently as last week. One other fact – they now want to put it into bottled water. (Byner: … why? … ) They’re saying that kids aren’t getting enough out of the tap and they’re drinking the bottled water instead so let’s put it in there. You know, people need to have a choice, whether you want to be medicated or not –honestly, this stuff is dangerous. (Byner: what worries me … about the choice issue, but the … American medical journal which talks about this – it gives you bone cancer in young boys – these are all connections with this sodium fluoride. Skin rashes, chronic fatigue, aching muscles, mental dullness, gastrointestinal – I mean that’s awful. … ) It is, but … another example – .. it’s a waste product from the aluminium and super phosphate industries. Make no doubt about it – if you see a container of this stuff it’s got skull and crossbones on it – that’s what they’re putting in our water. But … in Portland near the Alcoa [phonetic] aluminium plant there’s been a fallout of this material into the land and the vegetation around it and kangaroos … in that area have been found to have effects of fluorosis where their joints have been affected, they almost look arthritic … and you’re telling us it’s okay for us? (Byner: Frank thank you indeed.)

 Back to Ann Bressington

(Byner: Is there a website people can go to …?) Yes: www.fluoridealert.com and that will provide numerous links to numerous papers that have been published and researched. And also on my website: www.bressington.net. I have video interviews with scientists downloaded onto my website as well so people can get the information. … one more thing – in 1989, a guy called Dennis Stevenson from the Legislative Council in Canberra ran a parliamentary inquiry into fluoride and he had to write a 177 page dissenting report because the parliament refused to publish the research that was available then on the harms of fluoride. (Byner: … because they’d introduced it. The people at SA Health now were not the same people who legislated for this some time ago -) NO, but the people at SA health now still refuse to meet with professionals and hear the research and hear the information in order for them to make an informed consent to poison us or not. (Byner: … the public can take control of this – if you read this information and you think it’s got currency don’t drink tap water.) And Leon also just to warn people – when you boil fluoridated water it actually increases the … strength of the fluoride of the water by 600 times. You cook your vegetables with it, you’re contaminating the food that you’re eating. So boiling the water won’t get this out – the only way to get this out of your water is with reverse osmosis filter. (Byner: Ann Bressington thank you and Frank … what do you think … ? I bet there’ll be a couple of callers who ring in and say ‘I told you so’.)

 (Byner: The former Minister for Health in the Whitlam Government, Doug Everingham, has written a letter to John Hill … suggesting that he rethink fluoridation in our water supply … in Mt Gambier at the Blue Lakes we are going to consider putting fluoride in their water and there is also consideration by health authorities to put fluoride in the bottled water that you drink … I’ve spoken to a lot of dentists … who say that the evidence about whether or not fluoride in the water is good for your teeth is sometimes neither here nor there … a lot of people said … this is a beat up, we’ve been drinking it for 40 years so what’s the big deal? I’ll tell you the big deal: a lot of people now like to ask what’s being put in their bodies and they want a choice … if there is good scientific information that there is a problem then people ought to be informed. So Merilyn Haynes … tell us what’s happening in Queensland and why this should be a debate for South Australia as well.) … until a couple of years ago we didn’t really have much water fluoridation in Queensland, less than 5% of the population and that basically was Townsville and a couple of small towns … and then they did fluoridate an Aboriginal community … what we know is … it was absolutely forced upon us, we didn’t have a choice … as soon as … Anna Bligh got in … a couple of months later she announced it was going to be forced on us … we do know they’ve never done any health risk assessments, they relied on the National Health and Medical Research Council … review of 2007 … we know from that the NHMRC was supposed to look at the … cumulative effects of fluoride on people with kidney impairment … that was part of the tender for this private contract but … they did not do it, there was not a word about it in the final review … (Byner: … information that I was gleaning over the weekend … was that … the body coverts this sodium fluoride into calcium fluoride.) No, it doesn’t really matter … the fluoride … and they use three different types of fluoride; they use sodium fluoride … they use sodium [unclear] fluoride which is solid, they use hydrofluoric acid which is a liquid. The two silico fluorides are waste products of the fertiliser, superphosphate fertiliser industry … (Byner: … you are fighting this battle in Queensland, do you also believe that the fluoride that’s in our water is actually waste products from aluminium and other smelters?) … it is absolutely certain that our waste products of the superphosphate fertilising industry and are waste products of aluminium smelting ... (Byner: … so Queenslanders now will have fluoride in their water whether they like it or not?) Yes … half of Queensland’s now been fluoridated in the last couple of years against the wishes … the whole thing is it’s forced mass medication. It goes against all the principles of informed consent. (Byner: Alright … thank you for joining us.)

 (Francis: …Dennis Stevenson … has come down as guest speaker for a fluoridation rally which is …I believe held in Adelaide last night …) … there’s going to be a big one held in Mount Gambier on Saturday night … I heard you mention … we could do with some change in politicians and I think most people would agree with that. (Francis: …you’re not a lawyer, Dennis?) … No … I’m basically like the people you were talking about. I’m very much down to earth.  I was in Parliament for two terms … but I was one of the people that voted against this nonsensical idea of putting fluoride in our drinking water … that’s no way to medicate people. If you want to go to a doctor, they have to examine you, they have to check what illness you have, they have to find out your age, your weight, your sex, what other drugs you’re taking that might conflict - there are actually about 15 different things, none of that’s done with fluoride, they just put it in the water for everyone. (Francis: … I googled it the other day … and I can remember 40 years ago … when talkback first started, prior to talkback starting we used to do … just interviews on the air … we had the leaders of the democrats … fluoridation was just about to be put in the water and people screamed and yelled and shouted and said … it’d rip your teeth to pieces … and yet it’s been going for 40 years. It went ahead, they put it in, dentists started saying … we’re not getting many people to come in to fix up their teeth, we’ll start having dental hygienists to make some … money … suddenly, because it’s going into Mount Gambier, fluoride’s bad. What’s happened, Dennis? Are you a professor …) … people have simply not been told the truth … (Francis: …it’s taken 40 years to … tell the truth?) … you find that there are a lot of things in Parliament where people don’t … get told what’s happening. I was a member of Australia’s major fluoridation inquiry, this began in 1989 and finished in 1991 in Canberra … we researched evidence all around the world, we had submissions from everywhere – scientific submissions, medial, dental, human rights and so on and the vast majority of those submissions showed that fluoride was … dangerous, it even killed people … in America. It obviously was not something to do if people have a right to decide what drug they take. It absolutely goes against that, only individuals or parents have a right to decide what drugs they take or their kids. It was also shown to be one of the world’s major environmental problems because fluoride waste comes out of many heavy metal industrial manufacturing plants, things like aluminium, super phosphate, clay, brick and so on and this was where fluoridation started way back when … this was in the early 30s and 40s in America where huge companies like Alcoa and Reynolds were sued for millions of dollars … for the fluoride waste being belched out of their smokestacks, landing on crops and livestock and killing them . So the result of that was Alcoa hired a fellow to do some research and he came up with the idea that the cause of the brown stain and the change in children’s teeth … was an improvement. Now this is nonsense. What it actually was, is dental fluorosis and you’ll see this all over Adelaide and any fluoridated community. (Francis: … I’ve never heard that in my bloody life!) … you highlight the very, very factor that is keeping this information from people. (Francis: …I’m dead against what you’re talking about but I know … there are people who live it and people who hate it … I don’t give a damn … because it’s done nothing to my teeth … my teeth are a $45,000 set …) You’ve probably been using yours for a long time … (Francis: …do you think it’s why people are drinking more bottled water these days?) There’s no question whatsoever. That’s why the bottled water industry is become a multi-billion dollar industry. People don’t want to drink the fluoridated water out of the tap. I simply do not drink it ever. I wouldn’t even drink a cup of tea … (Francis: …the taste of our water has been like shit for the last hundred years … we’re famous in Adelaide for having absolute crap as water …) … I used to hear that on the east coast, but of course fluoride is colourless, odourless and tasteless… that’s one of the dangers with it. What you find with dental fluorosis, this mottling of children’s teeth … that’s the first sign of a [unclear] breakdown of the teeth, the tooth structure … dentists make millions of dollars in Australia putting covers or caps over teeth that get that ugly white, cream or brown unsightly mottling … it’s not cosmetic … (Francis: … every time I wish to go to the … dental hygienist you’d have your clean and the scraping then they go now we’re going to put a little bit of fluoride all over your teeth.) … let me tell you an example of where that happened in America. Graham Kenneally in New York … his mum took him along to the dentist for the first examination ever. His teeth were perfect. The nurse gave him a fluoride treatment … she painted this stuff on his teeth and the fluoride killed the fellow … (Francis: …that’s scaredy scaredy stuff. That’s one in a bloody squillion.) The point is … she gave him a glass of water and she didn’t say spit it out and he swallowed it and the coroner said there was enough poison in Graham’s body to kill three people … In Brisbane, Jason Burton was just a young lad and his mother, on the advice of the local dentist, had been giving the kid one fluoride tablet a day … he got into the bottle and in all he took four tablets … I’ve got a copy of … Jason Burton’s death certificate and it says fluoride poisoning. It’s not unusual that fluoride kills people. It’s very unusual that they ever say it though. In America, it’s killing about 50,000 people a year in fluoridated as against fluoride free communities. (Francis: …Hasn’t killed me.) … why don’t we know these things … (Francis: …It’s been in the water system in Adelaide for 40 bloody years.) It’s true … but the point is you’ve got to admit we’re a very, very sick society. People are dying like flies, they’ve got any number of ailments. They’ve got tremendous problems with their bones. What fluoride causes is fluorosis. You say where did they get that name fluorosis from? Not hard to tell is it … dental fluorosis is the cellular break down of your teeth. The rest of the fluorosis that you can’t see causes a vast increase in hip fractures in fluoridated countries … very, very few countries are fluoridated around the world … far less than 4%. (Francis: …I guarantee you’ll never stop it being taken out of the …water system here in Adelaide but you’re trying to do it in Mount Gambier before they shove it into the Blue Lake or something.) … it’s true! Doesn’t it all come down to the fact that you’ve got a right to decide what drugs you take … if you’ve got kids, you’ve got that right. No politician, and they’re certainly not qualified to make a statement, has got the right to force this stuff in our water. Water is vital to life. If you’re going to use it as a vehicle for drugging … you’re creating a very dangerous precedent. This stuff accumulates in the body. Let’s look at what the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Cancer Research calls it … they say it’s an insecticide, fungicide, bactericide and rodenticide … that’s a rat poison … it’ll actually kill any living thing on the planet from the smallest microbe to the largest animal … I would not drink the water out of the tap in South Australia while I’m down here. I might have a go up at Mount Gambier. (Francis: …I used to love the comment saying, ‘I don’t drink the water – fish fornicate in it.’) That was a good old one … it’s something that’s obviously against people’s will. We had dozens and dozens of referendums right around Australia and nearly every one of them … people decide no they don’t want politicians to put fluoride in our water supply … actually written a one page sheet …and people can find out all the information they want … it’s all over the internet … simply search the term ’12 reasons to reject fluoridation’ … they will get a one page sheet that I put a lot of time into … that’s all they need to read in their life … I think you’ll find it’s very interesting that we’re not told about these things. The inquiry I was on in Canberra … that was Australia’s major Government inquiry … we received all this evidence from all around the world about the cancer. I listed an A to Z of illnesses it causes and this is evidence received by a Government inquiry … what did the majority of members of that inquiry decide to do in Canberra? They decided to suppress that information. The only reason that that evidence went into that inquiry final report is because as a Member of Parliament I had the right of a dissenting report … I didn’t write it, I simply did what the committee should have done on behalf of the people of Canberra. I compiled the report from the evidence we received. (Francis: …good luck in Mount Gambier this week … ) … thank you very much indeed for your time.

 (Perry: … we’re going to go straight over to the very patient and hard-working lady who is a Member of our South Australian Parliament … Ann Bressington … ) … I just thought I would let South Australian people know about a meeting we had in Mount Gambier last night on fluoridation of their water supply, their Blue Lake and why I’ve really gotten interested in this particular issue. I’ll ask you a question that I’ve asked many people, would you expect that the fluoride that we’re putting in our water would be a pharmaceutical grade product? (Perry: You would like to think so but I believe it’s not) Not it’s not. It’s actually a really toxic, corrosive waste product of the aluminium and phosphate fertilizer industry (Perry: I heard that the other day, I was horrified) Absolutely. It’s known as hexofluorosilicic acid and never meant for human consumption, never approved for human consumption and basically it’s getting dumped in our water supply and is being rebadged sodium fluoride and that’s what they’re saying is good for our teeth (Perry: The weird thing I found about this whole thing is that there seems to be so many issues surrounding the whole way that it works and what it is and stuff, that why would we suddenly be looking at introducing it into new areas, and particularly when you look at somewhere like Mount Gambier, with the Blue Lake and stuff, why would you even begin to think about messing with anything in that sort of department in an area that is world renowned for its blue lakes?) Absolutely. Well … just as you drive up the hill to the Blue Lake you see a sign saying ‘No trucks carrying any toxic substances are allowed to pass by on this road’, they’ve got to take an alternative route, but we’re going to dump this crap in the water for people to drink. We had a public meeting last night where 200 people rocked up, 200 people voted against fluoridation and they’ve been trying to get a meeting with John Hill and Dr Cunliffe from Health SA for three years. On radio in January Dr Cunliffe promised the people of Mount Gambier that there would be a public meeting and a public discussion on the issue of fluoride before it went on tap. And nothing had happened so we held that meeting and invited them down. They didn’t come. But on the very day … that the public meeting was being held, people got a letter in their junk mail stating that after years of public consultation and blah de blah de blah fluoride is going on tap on Thursday in Mount Gambier (Perry: That’s bizarre) Well, this is a bizarre Government and it is a bizarre Health Department (Perry: Why are we so determined to do this? Are there suddenly dental health problems in Mount Gambier I haven’t heard about?) So they say, but that’s what every country, and there’s only four of us mind you, says to expand these fluoride treatment centres into other areas, it’s the same reason that Anna Bligh used in Queensland to expand their fluoridation systems in Queensland (Perry: But doesn’t it cost us money to do these things?) It costs us a lot of money. I’ve actually put in an FOI and asked the question Parliament, but we estimate it’s a pretty hefty amount. But we’re actually buying this toxic waste, this rat poison, and that’s exactly what it is according to the … World Health Organisation, it’s a rodenticide, a pesticide and a herbicide. We’re buying it from China and Belgium where they’ve actually banned water fluoridation. So we’re buying their toxic waste to put in our water supply because they don’t want to use it (Perry: And we’re talking about a country like China where everyone is saying we don’t want food from there because they don’t have any decent looking after their stuff, and they’ve banned it. That’s probably a fair indicator that we should be going.. I just don’t understand why the desperate need to expand this industry) I would say somewhere along the line there’s a commercial contract between Australia and these countries that needs to be honoured and that it’s a commercial agreement rather than a good public health policy. I wasn’t really up on this until about eight weeks ago. I’d done some research back on it when I was studying natural and traditional medicine, but there wasn’t a lot of research out on it at that stage, but we’ve known since 1995 now, from a peer review published medical journal, an article done by Dr Phyllis Milleneux [phonetic] who is a neurologist and toxicologist, that this stuff we’re calling fluoride actually lowers the IQ in infants, it mimics or causes ADHD in children. Another study done … shows that it increases a young boy’s chances of getting osteosarcoma, which is a deadly bone cancer, their chances are increased by five to seven times to develop that. Chronic fatigue, mental dullness and Alzheimer’s type illness, gastrointestinal problems … it was also found it was responsible for low birth weight babies, stillbirth and skeletal deformities in babies … it affects the thyroid and it actually has shown in fluoridated areas … an increase in fractures in the elderly. So we’re talking osteoporosis, which doctors are saying how come so many people are developing osteoporosis? We’re talking gut problems that are being treated with all sorts of other drugs that often contain fluoride, so it agitates it even more. Alzheimer’s … doctors say that’s caused from an accumulation of aluminium in the brain. This is a by-product of the aluminium industry and when you have fluoride in your system it makes your body absorb aluminium even faster. It helps …  (Perry: How bizarre is all of this when you come down to the single fact that … maybe ten years ago everyone was running around going ‘get rid of your aluminium pots and pans …’ and yet we’re pouring it into the same water.) Absolutely … I’ve actually gone out and bought myself a reverse osmosis filter and we’ve converted also to rainwater – but what about the people who can’t do that? And, in America now … they are actually putting out health warnings for children’s formula … not to be reconstituted with fluoridated water, for children under the age not to use fluoridated toothpaste … and, that if children swallow when they’re brushing, to seek assistance from the Poisons Information Centre immediately. Where are our warnings? While we’re expanding our fluoride in the United States their fluoridation is shrinking because they’re actually using a real democratic process … of referendum for areas that don’t want it … if the referendum says ‘no’ the people don’t get fluoridated. But we’re expanding ours and we’re still not putting out the health warnings that they’re doing in America. This government cannot proclaim any longer, plausible deniability of the problems that go along with fluoridation because I did a two-hour speech in parliament last week to put this research on the record in Hansard, and if there is one politician who comes to me and says that was a load of crap, I want to know how qualified they are to discredit peer reviews published medical journals. (Perry: When are we going to get to a stage where parliament itself is actually going to become a proper serious thing where we actually look after Australia … … you were saying before that it’s more than likely a commercial agreement with overseas countries. We seem to be completely and utterly destroying our own selves and our own country for the sake of globalisation.) Absolutely. I’ll tell you when we’ll get a functional parliament - … when we have – and I’m not talking about just me - … more true Independents in there … and when governments stop running states and countries like corporations instead of running them like governments should – providing leadership, dealing with the basic needs of their constituents and making sure that we are doing our very best for socioeconomically deprived people and for people with disabilities … people injured at work and pulling these sorts of programs like fluoridation out because it’s making people sick. (Perry: And we’re paying for it) … you’re paying to be poisoned. At the meeting last night in Mount Gambier it was unanimous that people are going to not pay their water bills and the slogan is ‘If I can’t drink it I’m not paying for it’. And there were also people down there saying that they aren’t going to pay their rates bill because their council did not stand up for them in the decision-making process … they’re already doing this in Mildura where they had forced fluoridation. They’re already polling and they’re already setting up this public disobedience and public dissent movement because nobody would meet with them in Warnambool or the rest of Victoria when they were being fluoridated. No public official … would debate with experts, medical and scientific experts. They wouldn’t debate with them because they can’t. They cannot medically or scientifically justify fluoridation. … you may get some people who say ‘well I’ve been having it for 35 or 40 years and it hasn’t done me any harm’. But if you suffer from gut problems, cancer, bone cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, dementia, migraines, the list goes on … you will never know … if the cause of that is fluoride or not, because doctors don’t know to test for it. And in India - … the world expert on treatment of fluorisis or fluoride toxicity, when people come into her surgery and list anyone of those … the first thing she tests for is fluoride. And she said in an interview that 90% of the patients who go to her with all of these illnesses show an accumulation of fluoride in their system. So they work to stop the intake of fluoride in their system, and guess what? They get better. (Perry: I … don’t understand how we can call ourselves a democracy where if communities don’t want something and the government is just prepared to stomp all over everyone … we’ve got a thing where we’ve got our ministers from the economics running around saying ‘we need to find money we’re going to lose our Triple A rating’, well surely wouldn’t this add towards us not –if we weren’t paying for these things? I mean we seem to be … being done over by every country - …years ago we dropped our car tariffs. Now why as a community we weren’t jumping up and down about that I don’t know but it’s all a bit too late now because we’ve pretty much lost the game in that one –and Blind Freddie could have seen that coming.) Absolutely – Australia is being sold down the river left, right and centre on … health policies – it’s all about corporate greed. And when you’ve got governments functioning from corporate greed perspectives of course the people are going to miss out and of course the essentials in life are going to be glossed over and ignored because you know triple A rating is far more important than people’s health and well being. That’s upside down. It’s back to front and it doesn’t work for government and it certainly doesn’t work for the people. (Perry: …it’s a very bizarre situation … I’ve obviously been doing the right thing all these years ... because I haven’t been drinking any water at all while everyone else around me has been guzzling water … ) Can’t we justify our bad habits any way we want to … (Perry: …can you please keep me updated with how we’re all going along with these sort of things … is there any chance of stopping it or not?) … it’s just as easy to turn off the tap as it is to turn it on but this isn’t just about Mount Gambier now. We’ve all been drinking fluoridated water for 40 years. This Government has got to review this. They’ve got to be forced – forced – to read the research and we’ve got to start doing studies on the toxicology of fluoride in this country. Not one study has been done in this country on the toxic effects of fluoride. So, it should all be stopped. Let’s do those tests, let’s do the studies, let’s do the science and you know what – if all of these world experts, 3, 147 of them, who’ve signed a petition to stop water fluoridation, if they’re all wrong and our Health Minister and Dr Cunliffe are right, God forbid, then we can turn the tap back on in maybe five years when all these studies have been done … but until then, turn it off. (Perry: …the one sticking point for me is that isn’t it only supposed to help our teeth?)  … it doesn’t help our teeth. It actually rots our teeth. (Perry: …their argument all along has always been that it helps our teeth … it’s not been put forward as a miracle cure, it’s not being put forward as something that actually stops e-coli being in the water or that sort of thing, it’s being simply put forward as ‘If you can’t be bothered brushing your teeth, drink this water and you’ll be ok’ … why the big fight over it then?) … it’s money, it’s got to be money. There’s nothing else that motivates government to do these stupid things other than money. But I tell you, the European Court of Justice in 2000 ruled that fluoridating water was unethical and illegal because it was mass medication. Fluoride is not being added to the water to improve its quality, it’s being … used to treat a condition therefore it is a medication and they are mass medicating and do you know a lot of anti-psychotic drugs have a fluoride base? So, fluoride actually dulls people and I think it was Bertrand Russell way, way back when he said there will come a time when it will be physically, emotionally and mentally impossible for people to rise up … so I will leave you with that.

- SA Government Media Monitoring Service -

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Tuesday, 12 October, 2010

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 (Byner: It was put to me not long ago, that the reason we even started putting fluoride in the water didn’t have much to do with dental caries … it was put to me … that because the aluminium and other industries needed a place to put their waste. Now, I thought ‘that can’t be right. Nahhh’. Well whatever their motivation was some forty years ago, it has always been controversial and the European court of justice has recently ruled that fluoridation in water supplies in places that they represent is a no-no. But we in Australia are a little different … we’re going to fluoridate the desalinated water. Right? Now remember that we let water go out to sea that gets salt in it, spend a lot of money to take the salt out and then we add fluoride to it … there is debate going on now that the state … it’s been discussed at a federal level as to whether or not you should have fluoride in the bottled water that you drink. Now as I said, my position is that if you want to seek to drink this water … fine. But if you’re one of those people that says ‘nup I think there is evidence’, and there are lots of peer-reviewed websites and information in many medical journals that fluoridating the water with sodium fluoride is not the way to go. Now there’s going to be a public meeting in Mount Gambier but this is not just a Mount Gambier issue … yes, the Blue Lakes … the State Government want to fluoridate the water supply, they think they know better but they haven’t got the guts to debate it have they Ann Bressington?) No Leon … and the minister and the Health Department put a letter in Mount Gambier’s junk mail distribution on the very day of the public meeting stating that fluoridation will go ahead this Thursday without keeping their promise to have a public meeting. And he said a stock-standard letter which regurgitates all of the … [unclear] on his behalf. (Byner: So what did you do?)  Well I didn’t get it – he sent it to the newspapers before he actually sent it to me. But I would not have read it out anyway – it would have been an insult … given that these people will not debate publicly under any circumstances. (Byner: Why? ) Because they can’t win … there’s a You Tube clip also from the public health officials in Victoria where they said they just won’t go to public debates because people get rowdy and it makes it very difficult for them – the public health officials – to make their point. (Byner: But, the important point is the evidence. Now … give me a couple of places people can go to get just the science?) Leon I’ve got a multitude of information up on my website. Bressington.net – that links people into all of the websites that are available … I also have a DVD that I’ve been given permission to copy and distribute. I have a hundred of them if people want to contact my office - … (Byner: Now, if you want to get the DVD … ) My phone number is … 8237 95 96 (Byner: You know you’re going to get inundated dontcha? [laughs]) Well that’s fine; I want people to be educated. … I was just looking in the dictionary about the word ‘consult’ … it says ‘to seek permission or approval from a person for a proposed action and to take into account and consider dealings and interests. (Byner: Well governments don’t do that. Not this one.) And they should not say they do. (Byner: … do they allege that they’ve actually had a consultation about this?) Yes (Byner: When was it and where …?) [unclear] over many years. (Byner: Where was it? Where? Where was it, where, who, who, when, when, how?) Well we don’t know. In their dreams perhaps. … the people of Mount Gambier have been trying to get the Minister and Doctor Cunliffe down there for ten years. (Byner: But … they are fluoridating, we found out – we got a confirmation last week that the desalinated water will be fluoridated … and I know there is discussion going on at a federal level about putting fluoride in bottled water.) Well Leon if this goes ahead at a federal level I can tell you the backlash for any party … to support that – (Byner: It’ll be done in relative secret. There will be no consultation because after all, the state knows better than you and me Ann. They are the purveyor of all knowledge and science remember?)  Well sadly. But I can tell you that … from around this country I’ve been contacted, there are people from northern New South Wales right along the northern coast, Queensland who are now refusing to pay their water bill or requesting that the Government provide them with reverse osmosis equipment to remove the fluoride from the water. (Byner: They’re not going to do that.) Well you know there’s such a thing as contract law and if people - … everybody needs to do is to write a letter withdrawing their consent from fluoride. If they don’t want fluoride they must notify SA Health and SA Water … to consume fluoride. That’s one step - … in a step of money. (Byner: You know what the problem there legally is? That you cannot withdraw what wasn’t given in the first place. Consent wasn’t given years ago to do it.) Well I’ve had legal advice on this and the first step is, a letter of non-consent … (Byner: Is that right. … ) … now that we know the science. And I tell you, in Ballamant [phonetic], in New South Wales, there is a class action going ahead up there against the water provider for fluoridating people against their will. (Byner: You know if that gets up, a precedent of that is going to be enormous) … it’s already stalled about a half a dozen fluoride plants from being finished. … they aren’t that confident. This is what they’ve said in America and the EU for Australia: it has got to end up in the courts. Because public consultation, public non-consent isn’t working so it will eventually have to end up in court. And I’ll tell you, the professionals from overseas that have been successful in having fluoride rejected and banned in other countries are more than willing at their own expense to come over here and present the evidence in court. (Byner: Goodness … your website address … again?) …. www.bressington.net … 8237 95 96. (Byner: Keep us in the loop … I just believe, this is about informed choice and if you don’t want to drink fluoride then you need to be able to adopt means within your abilities to not do that. You don’t want the state telling you ‘we will do this for your own good’. There’s too much of this. Far too much of it.)

(Byner: … SA Health are about to fluoridate Mt Gambier’s Blue Lake water supply … half the community has signed a petition and said don’t do it. SA Health think they know better and  they’ve sent out a release … ‘Data routinely collected by our school dental service for over 30 years shows that children in Mt Gambier have much more decay than children from Adelaide which has had a fluoridated water supply since 1971 … the overwhelmingly scientific consensus is that water fluoridation as a safe and effective public health measure. Many health organisations including the World Health Organisation and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council endorse water fluoridation for protecting teeth against decay’. Now, I have to tell you that is a misleading and deceptive statement because if you go to a whole heap of websites, and I’ve got an arm length of them, peer reviewed by medical journals and so, there’s a lot of information to suggest that there is a problem with fluoride in the water … it’s not just how many parts per million they put in because the more you  drink the more parts per million you get. There’s a residual compounding amount … over time plus anything else you get indirectly. Now, they’re going to do it anyway … what’s people’s consumer right on this?) Well it’s not an easy one because obviously the provider of water in Mt Gambier is one agency. However, if there’s as many people up in arms about it as is being reported … and assuming there is controversial data about the safety of it … it’s very appropriate that these concerns be echoed with Government. The one thing that will happen is that when someone gets sick out of this and that there’s proof or evidence that it’s linked to the fluoride then certainly the Government opens itself up for a range of claims. (Byner: … if you don’t want fluoride in your water and SA Water are putting it in can you do anything about it?) … I’d have to have a look at the Water Act but assuming there’s nothing in there particular to this issue you’ve got a right to deal with the contractor as you see fit. It’s a matter of bargaining. If you don’t want the fluoride, arguably you should approach the person providing the product and say you don’t want it… you’re going to need lots of voices, you’re going to need lots of advocates, probably members of parliament involved to affect any change here. This is a bureaucratic department which is dealing with it as it’s dealt with for years. As you said, it’s been the case in Adelaide for 40 years. (Byner: … I do not wish people to do one thing or the other; all I’m saying is there is now credible evidence out there beyond any doubt. Doug Everingham who was a Minister for Gough Whitlam is on YouTube … he’s doing an interview with somebody about why he’s changed his mind on fluoride. He wrote to the Health Department, clearly they took no notice of what he had to say, but … he’s not the only one, there’s a whole lot of people quite eminent that have come out about this. My interest is tell the public the information, tell them where they can get it, they then have an informed ability to make a choice …  you can’t filter fluoride out of the water unless you have reverse osmosis … so that’s going to cost you $700 plus … what is our contract with SA Water, because I’ve never signed one? … ) … under the Act it’s an authority and they have the monopoly on … the provision of water. That doesn’t mean that you can’t negotiate with them … it’s no different than getting extra time to pay on a debt, in terms of principle it’s the same sort of thing.

- SA Government Media Monitoring Service -

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Wednesday, 14 October 2010 

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