Dangerous? Never ...

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 2

Dangerous? Never ...

A dental officer admitted to hospital after swallowing a huge dose of fluoride says she did it to disprove a claim that fluoride was 15 times more poisonous than arsenic, the Press Association reports from Wellington. The incident happened at a Plunkei mothers’ meeting in Greytown last September just before a referendum on whether fluoride should be added to the district’s water supply. Mrs Betty de Liefde, a dental officer and Greytown ratepayer attending the meeting in a private capacity, said she was on the platform with an anti-

(luoridationist, and each gave a prepared talk. Her opponent asserted that fluoride was 15 times more poisonous than arsenic and “at that point I took the action 1 did.” Mrs de Liefde put what was supposed to be an average three months dose of fluoride in a class of water and drank it. But the phial contained what she later discovered to be an estimated two years dose — and she began to feel ill as she drove back to Wellington later. The next day, she went to hospital, where she was given calcium and fluid to ensure that the calcium

level in hei blood was maintained. “I W’as in hospital for six days, but for the last few days it was only for observation” said Mrs de Liefde. She said she did not agree with a Health Department statement that her action had been “illadvised” — “If the phial had only contained three months supply it would not have been ill-advised; It would have been harmless,” she said. “Other people have taken that amount with no ill effects, and I thought it was a thing that other people would also do in the circumstances.’’