I am momentarily taking my Nutritionist hat off and putting on my generic Health Promotion hat to ask all my Queensland friends for their support to bring Fluoridated Water back to Queensland (sign this petition!!!) You may (or may not) be aware that in 2012 the LNP gave local councils control over the fluoridation of the water in local regions and as a result around 800,000 Queenslander currently don’t have access to fluoridated water! This is a huge public health issue, particularly for children, as fluoridated water is the most effective and socially equitable way to prevent dental caries – which are unfortunately a major issue. Please help me tell the Queensland State Government to resume control of water fluoridation and give all Queenslanders access to beneficial effects of fluoridated water by SIGNING THIS PETITION (and please share it far and wide). Now I am not going to argue the in’s and out’s of water fluoridation as, quite frankly, I don’t have the expertise (and more likely than not, neither do you); but those that do have the expertise in both public health and in oral health including the World Health Organisation, the Public Health Association of Australia, the Dietitians Association of Australia and the Australian Dental Association strongly support the fluoridation of water as an important initiative to prevent dental caries. You can see (here) that tooth decay in Logan-Beaudesert children dropped 19 per cent in 3 years (since 2008) when fluoride was introduced to the water supply. Similarly in Canada an increase in tooth decay can be seen (here) in children in as little 2.5-3 years after the cessation of water fluoridation - this is particularly concerning since many regions in Queensland, including the Fraser Coast, Bundaberg, Cairns and Rockhampton amongst others, have now been without fluoride since 2013 (check if your region has fluoridated water here). Now you may be thinking a few holes in your teeth isn’t such a big deal, but poor oral health can significantly impact quality of life and there is increasing evidence of significant association with major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes. So please take just a minute, click this link and sign the petition to get State Government control of water fluoridation so that we can all have healthy teeth. Thank You!
2 Comments
Jaime
7/3/2016 08:17:34 pm
As usual Nikki you have written this so well. I must admit despite the stories I hear from my dentist every six months when my children have their checkup I didn't realise children could have so many problems with their teeth...until my children started school and I could see the problems with children's teeth for myself, young children even 5 years of age. Thank you for caring about our children's health enough to do something about it.
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Nikki @ The Kids Menu
8/3/2016 07:21:30 am
Thanks Jaime, it really is a sad state at the moment - of course I am not diminishing the role of diet and other aspects but most parts are at least 4 decades behind the rest of Australia!
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AuthorNikki is a PhD qualified Nutritionist and an expert in children's eating. Categories
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