Worst Fluoride Dosing Accident in Australian HistoryWORST FLUORIDE DOSING ACCIDENT IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY...
1) This text came from the Courier Mail - so much for privatisation of the water grid..."Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek, a pro-fluoride dentist, said the two-week test delay was too long.
if this is a taste of the incompetence looming, heaven help us.
"Some people didn't want this, but they told us the processes would be safe," he said.
The bungle occurred when fluoride continued to mix into water when the treatment plant was shut down for routine maintenance late last month.
When the plant resumed operations on May 1, the overdosed water discharged into household supplies between 9am and noon.
SEQWater normally receives the results on the same day but The Courier-Mail understands the bulk supplier failed to test the water before its release after the shutdown.
It is understood the failure meant plant operator LinkWater tested the water further down the line, with its testing taking 12 days instead of SEQWater's normal same-day result.
LinkWater received the test results back on Tuesday.
SEQ Water was told on Wednesday before the Premier was told later that night."
2) And Article from: AAPMay 15, 2009 11:07am
- Water contaminated by too much fluoride
- Residents not told for almost two weeks
- Clause bans them from taking legal action
Lawyer Mark O'Connor, of Bennett and Philp Lawyers, revealed the clause while demanding that the Queensland Government should pay for medical tests for Brisbane residents affected by a fluoride bungle.
Premier Anna Bligh yesterday revealed 300,000 litres of contaminated water was pumped to up to 4000 northern Brisbane homes for three hours on May 1 after a malfunction delivered 20 times the allowable limit of fluoride into the water supply.
The fault was uncovered during routine tests 12 days later.
Mr O'Connor said despite the Premier and Queensland Health reassuring the public the risk of illness was extremely remote, the Government should offer to pay for any medical tests householders might wish to take.
"People are expected to put their trust in the Government and when the Government fails them, it has a duty to put things right,'' Mr O'Connor said.
"Paying for any medical tests is the least it could do.''
Affected residents are to receive a letter of apology from the Government spelling out what happened.
Read more on the Queensland fluoride bungle at The Courier-Mail
OPEN LETTER FROM MERILYN HAINES OF
QUEENSLANDERS FOR SAFE WATER AIR AND FOOD INC...
Premier Bligh today announced an accident at the North Pine Dam Water treatment plant on May 1st when water massively overdosed with Sodium Silicofluoride was released into the public water supply.
About 4,000 homes are believed to have received water containing 30mg/l fluoride. This level is nearly 40 times higher than the 0.8 mg/L Qld Health advised in Nov 2008 was to be the level for water supplies in SE Qld.
Water with 30 mg/L fluoride ion is equivalent to 120 fluoride tablets per litre of water, or 30 fluoride tablets per 250 ml glass, yet the Premier has denied that there was a health risk.
At a media opportunity on 5th October 2008 , the spokesperson for Prominent, supplier of fluoridation equipment used in Qld, told Stephen Robertson, then Qld Health Minister, that the maximum fluoridators could inject was 0.8 mg/L.
It appears that there has been three major malfunctions , one with the injector continuing to inject much more fluoride into the water than it was supposed to, combined with failures of the automatic inline monitoring and automatic failsafe shutdown system.
Despite fluoride levels being able to be measured in seconds with ion selective electrodes, it was not until 12 days after the accident that SEQ Water received test results showing the extremely high fluoride levels. WHY THIS HUGE DELAY ????
Despite the Premiers denial of harm, persons consuming this water were overdosed 40 fold with fluoride. People particularly at risk of harm include Diabetics, the Kidney impaired , people with chemical sensitivity or hypersensitivity to fluoride and infants.
Mothers in the suburbs affected, who made up a day’s worth of baby bottles with tap water on the morning of 1st May would have overdosed vulnerable infants at every feed . The huge bolus dose of fluoride could have permanently damaged children’s developing teeth but this damage, Dental Fluorosis, will not be seen until their teeth erupt from the gums.
The Premier has previously received documented medical evidence that exposure to fluoride at 1mg/L can drastically reduce lung function in a sensitive person. It can only be imagined what could happen with a sensitive person drinking water at 30mg/L.
Queenslanders For Safe Water, Air and Food Inc demand that the Premier and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young immediately shut down all Prominent fluoride dosage units at all treatment plants until a full investigation is carried out.
Authorised by Merilyn Haines spokesperson for Queenslanders For Safe Water, Air and Food Inc www.qawf.org
media contact 0418 777 112
FLUORIDE DOSING LEVELS
(Advice from Qld Health received 19/11/2008 from Environmental Health Branch-Queensland Health Ph. 3234 1258)
Zone 1: 0.6mg/L ( North East Queensland) Zone 2: 0.7mg/L ( Rest of Qld) Zone 3: 0.8mg/L ( South East Queensland)
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