Water Fluoridation in Brisbane, Australia

Update: You probably also want to read this: Brisbane Water supply fluoridated from Dec 2, 2008

Brisbane is the last major city in Australia to have a fluoride-free water supply.

Now steps are underway to add fluoride to the water.

In my research on this issue I've turned up the following interesting resources:

studies in recent years have indicated a link between the extraordinarily minuscule amounts of fluoride in fluoridated water and youthful antisocial behavior including crime, drug use, violence and poor academic showing...research indicates that some chemicals used in fluoridation may alter the body's natural defenses against toxic heavy metals, particularly lead. Absorption of lead can cause hyperactivity and violent behavior, while manganese has been associated with depression and violence.

- It's Something in the Water - fluoridation research

This one is real heavy. I was born in Auckland and lived there for 23 years, so it's close to home. From a former fluoridation cheer leader:

To explain how I came to change my opinion about water fluoridation, I must go back to when I was an ardent advocate of the procedure. I now realize that I had learned, in my training in dentistry, only one side of the scientific controversy over fluoridation. I had been taught, and believed, that there was really no scientific case against fluoridation, and that only misinformed lay people and a few crackpot professionals were foolish enough to oppose it. I recall how, after I had been elected to a local government in Auckland (New Zealand's largest city, where I practised dentistry for many years and where I eventually became the Principal Dental Officer) I had fiercely — and, I now regret, rather arrogantly — poured scorn on another Council member (a lay person who had heard and accepted the case against fluoridation) and persuaded the Mayor and majority of my fellow councillors to agree to fluoridation of our water supply.

- Why I Changed My Mind About Water Fluoridation

Wider than just the fluoride issue, it demonstrates very serious flaws in the scientific method and shows how innocent and sincere people can become complicit in a "conspiracy".