MOUNT GAMBIER WATER FLUORIDATION

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (14:49): Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, given that today fluoride has been introduced for the first time to the water supply of Mount Gambier, what benefits will the fluoridation of the water supply bring to the people of Mount Gambier, and are there any associated risks?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:50): I thank the member for Mount Gambier for this question. The state government—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the Leader of the Opposition; she is very noisy today.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: She reminds me of that Warnie doll one of the beer companies put out some time ago.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: A Boonie doll: it just goes off periodically.

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order. I expected a point of order. The member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: The Minister for Health is reflecting on another member, being the leader.

The SPEAKER: I am not sure that he got to reflecting, but he may have got there eventually. I ask you to be careful, minister.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yes; he interrupted me too quickly. Madam Speaker, the South Australian government is committed to continuing the process of fluoridation of country South Australia's drinking water, a process which historically has had bipartisan support, which I am pleased to report and I understand that it is still the case.

Fluoridation was introduced in metro Adelaide in 1971 following a state cabinet decision in 1968. In 1983 the then cabinet decided to progressively extend fluoridation to country South Australia. As of today, as the honourable member has said, I am pleased to advise that Mount Gambier's water supply is now fluoridated. A number of other countries fluoridate their water supplies, and they include the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Drinking water fluoridation is less common in Europe, I understand, because instead in those countries—particularly in Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Belgium and Spain—fluoride is added to cooking salt. Salt is also fortified in a number of other countries in the Caribbean and in Central and South America. Fluoride is also added to milk in a number of countries.

Many wide-ranging and independent studies have found that water fluoridation does protect teeth against tooth decay without causing any of the side effects that are frequently claimed for it. I can assure the honourable member that the teeth of the children of Mount Gambier over time will see the benefits of this addition to their water supply.

These studies have been published in the British Medical Journal, the American Medical Association Journal and the National Research Council of the National Academies (USA). Australia's own National Health and Medical Research Council has undertaken three comprehensive reviews of water fluoridation, the most recent in 2007. Every time the safety of water fluoridation and its ability to reduce levels of dental decay were confirmed.

Fluoridation of drinking water remains the most effective and socially equitable means of minimising caries in the community. The National Oral Health Plan of 2004-13 states:

...fluoridation of public water supplies is the single most effective public health measure for reducing dental caries across the population, with its most pronounced effects among those who are disadvantaged and most at risk.

The World Health Organisation supports the measure, and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has rated water fluoridation as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20^th century.

The concrete evidence of the benefits and safety of a fluoridated water supply is also readily available closer at hand. A 40-year history of fluoridation in Adelaide stands as testimony to its safety. The benefits of fluoridation can also clearly can be demonstrated in our state. In 2004, 12 year old children in Mount Gambier had 78 per cent more dental decay than children of the same age in Adelaide, where the water is and has been fluoridated.

More recently, there have been increasing rates of dental decay in Mount Gambier, despite decreases across the state as a whole. Over the past five years the South Australian Dental Service has successfully adopted several strategies to try to reverse the trend of increased tooth decay experiences throughout the 1990s, which was related to an increase in sugary foods and drinks and increased drinking of rainwater and bottled water that have low fluoride levels.

As a result of these strategies, in the past 18 months we have seen an 8 per cent reduction in tooth decay across 12 year old children in South Australia. This improvement has been even better in country areas, I am pleased to say. The only exception has been in the South-East of the state where the amount of tooth decay amongst 12 year olds has increased by 12 per cent over the past two years. These figures, of course, are dominated by Mount Gambier, which, until today, has been the only major centre in South Australia where the water supply has not had adequate levels of fluoride.

The government is very much in favour of water fluoridation and will not allow the scaremongering of a number of people in the media and other places to unnecessarily delay the implementation of these measures. There have been some positive voices in the media, and I will quote from a caller to ABC radio this morning, Dr John Reed, a dentist, who says:

I've been a dentist for 34 years...my first two years after graduating I worked in central Victoria where there was no fluoridation. The last 12 years I worked between Adelaide and Geelong, which also had no fluoridated water supply...basically the difference is like working in a Third World country. The level of dental health in Geelong is just appalling...little children having multiple extractions; teenagers regularly needing multiple extractions and dentures and the rate of full clearances of extracting all teeth for adults is absolutely horrendous...you come back to South Australia and regularly you'll see...teenagers and 20 year olds that need no treatment whatsoever because...purely the effect of fluoridated water supply.

That is the outcome we want for Mount Gambier, not the outcome that they are experiencing at the moment. Once again, I would like to acknowledge the bipartisan support of the opposition for fluoridation of water supplies. The member for Morphett, for example, previously told media in Mount Gambier, 'The Liberal Party will be supporting the fluoridation of Mount Gambier water.' So, I thank him for that. The children of Mount Gambier should not be denied the same preventative health measures enjoyed by the rest of this state.