From Shan Kelly/ I had to copy and paste her submission because the share option wasnt available. its quite a long dissertation but well worth the read. Thanks Shan. Got a reply from Mary Lou McDonald today aafter I asked her ito tackle Leo Varadkar on whether Irish Water has conducted a risk assessment on the safety of its 50 year old fluoride dosing systems. I told her this issue concerns her brief - ending water fluoridation is an urgently needed public expenditure reform. Bringing in a bill to End mandatory water fluoridation on January 1st 2015 could save us ten million euro next year. It could also unite everyone who cares about childrens health and result in safer water at a much more reasonable cost. I am asking Micheal Martin, Shane Ross, Clare Daly and Maureen O Sullivan, all ccd above, to back Sinn Fein in asking the Governemnt to tell us if they have ever calcuulatedhow much it would cost us as a nation if our old fluoride dosing systems failed and resulted in one or more deaths from fluoride poisoning. The important international background here is that communities across the western world are ending forced fluoridation because of the high costs (This year Dallas saved 50 million dollars by ending a 50 year old policy) and increasing health risks (Isreal) associated with such policies. The ordinary health risks inherent in water fluoridation are magnified by the use of old systems, like those that Irish Water has just inherited responsibility for. Worse than the fact that this ever-controversial water policy may already cause a few children to die from bone cancer or brain tumours every year, is the fact that overdosing risks increase as the equipment used to fluoridate water ages. One man died in Canada in the 1990s after an old fluoride dosing system there failed. The state had to pay millions in compensation. Municipalities in Quebec and Toronto are ending fluoridation policies now, as more people there become aware of these risks and demand legislators respond by ending the expensive risky practice. It makes no sense at all for Ireland to upgrade fluoride dosing equipment when every other municipal water authority on the planet is removing fluorides because of the health risks and when people across Ireland have to live with boil water notices because our water is not being treated in modern plants. I want parliamentary questions to focus on asking Ministers Leo Varadkar and Alan Kelly to quantify whether it will be Irish Water or the Government that will be held responsible should our old dosing systems fail and cause fatalities here. Of interest to us all is how much the state will be liable for and whether it would not be better to simply remove such risks by simply ending mandatory water fluoridation on January 1st 2015? With fluoridation, as with many other aspects of the system Uisce Eire inherited, there is gross inefficiency caused by the slapdash and thoughtless manner in which the body was set up. The fluoride issue highlights just what a poor fist Phil Hogan made of setting up Irish Water. He ignored his own partys promise to end the archaic policy, which costs us a a minimum of ten million euro every year. Fine Gael promised to stop fluoridating water here in 2000 but it has broken this promise. Senator Mary Ann O Brien spoke eloquently on October 1st this year on why it is unethical and morally wrong to ask people to pay for water when they have no say on how it is treated. Since then, councils across Ireland (Donegal, Clare, Galway, Louth, Cork, Kerry and Dublin City) have all told the Government that it is time to end mandatory water fluoridation here. In 2013, Minister Reilly instructed the Health Research Board (hrb.ie) to review all the international research available.The HRB plans to publish that review of all the studies that show how fluorides impact health in March 2015. Meanwhile, Irish babies are still being bottle fed with water that contains 250 times more toxins than nature intended. The Government has just announced it plans to ban all advertising of baby formula without addressing the most important issue around bottle feeding, which is that our tap water is toxic for babies. Our tap water is so toxic to infants that foreign Governments have issued their consular staff posted here with warnings not to use our tap water to feed babies. Meanwhile the dental lobby continues to insist despite mounting evidence to the contrary that water fluoridation is harmless. It has announced they plan to spent 500,000 euro lobbying for the mandatory fluoridation policy to continue. It is vitally important that a) mandatory fluoridation is ended as soon as possible b) We have a referendum which places water in public ownership and b) protects the public water supply from being used as a drug delivery mechanism. Countries like The Netherlands, Sweden, France and Germany all rejected using the public water supply to deliver any medical or dental treatments as simply unethical as it is impossible to calculate or control dosage. Many of those outside the Dail last week protesting were there because we will refuse to pay for water which is made hazardous for our health by state imposed blanket treatment over which we have no choice. Fine Gael needs to keep its promise on ending forced fluoridation as it is too risky and also expensive, unethical and its benefits are unproven. I have been speaking to the RDS about organising a debate on this issue. Senators Fergal Quinn, Mary Ann O Brien and Shane Ross TD all AGREE That Irelands POLICY of mandatory water fluoridation SHOULD END now. There are many other independent TDs on the left and in the centre who also want this archaic policy ended. You will get support from Maureen O Sullivan, Mick Wallace, Clare Daly and Richard Boyd Barrett in the Dail. This is a great issue for your party to use to unite people on something everyone should agree on - protecting childrens health and the environment, while also cutting costs. Please act on this by formulating a bill with Fianna Fail to end the mandatory policy. FF passed a conference motion against fluoride at its Ard Fheis this year. FF also reduced the level of F in our water when in Government with The Greens in 2007. Now It needs to stop. Brian Stanleys 2013 bill failed because it went too far in trying to criminalise the practice. I believe that by working with Shane Ross, Eamon Ryan and Micheal Martin, Sinn Fein and Independents can get the archaic 1964 legislation repealed. The children of Ireland, and patients like myself, who are adversely affected by fluorides will thank you all.From your partys perspective , this is a great issue to use to unite people opposing water charges, because fluorides create a huge cost infrastructure without any proven benefit. People have the right to refuse to pay while they have no say on how this vital health Sinn Fein should work with Shane Ross, Fianna Fail and The Greens to draw up a bill ending mandatory fluoridation Please remind this FG-led Government that it pledged to stop fluoridating Irish Water back in 2000.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:21:18 +0000
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