Letter to the Editor extracted from the Townsville Bulletin, Tuesday, March 2, 1999.

Perhaps some response should be made to the alarming claims of L Markham (TB,letters, February 22) about what Thuringowa City Council is putting in the water supply.

While such wild accusations are not uncommon, the plain fact is that a trace of fluoride at seven parts in ten million parts of water is not only harmless but positively beneficial.

Townsville residents are probably aware that their enviable 35-year record of continuous water fluoridation has paid off handsomely. Recent research by the University of Adelaide showed up to a 60 per cent improvement in dental decay rates in residents over a similar Brisbane group.

Fluoride is a widespread, naturally occurring element which, when responsibly deployed (as a series of perspicacious city councils have done) brings immense benefits, particularly to the disadvantaged in a community. Townsville should be congratulated for its caring attitude.

--Peter Ryan, Australian Dental Association, Queensland Branch.