Fluoridation

Press, 6 September 1980, Page 14

Fluoridation

Sir, Peter D. Jamieson’s . suggestion (September 5) that -we could collect water for drinking purposes from the run-off of Christchurch roofs would, hardly be satisfactory during the winter. We have . exceeded the World Health Organisation limits for air pollution some 35 times this winter. During rainy periods air .pollution figures are ; low ’....but /pollu- ■ tants are still ’ being put into the atmosphere though they..are being: washed biitSpU they: air down on to roofs, cars and other, ’••' property. Throughout. the world .there is much talk about /“acid rain” and it would be most interesting !to find how water collected from bur roofs measured up . chemically? If I lived in the country I would be very concerned about the effects of chemical spraying on drinking water supplies; collected from the roof draining system.——. Yours, etc., ■ PATRICK NEARY.

September 5, 1980. . Sir, — Your correspondent, Peter D. Jamieson, claims (September 5) that the High . Court has recently made a pronouncement concerning fluoridation. 1 challenge him to state where and when the High Court did this. Who were the litigants? His suggestion that “pure” drinking water could be collected from roofs in the city is. quite, impracticable because of the high level of atmospheric pollution in Christchurch. Coal ash contains flubride. Cats and dogs; romp about on my house roof, and birds perch on it. Fumes from Woolston .to the windward bum my larch and beech trees. Does Mr Jamieson not realise that the purpose of municipal fluoridation is coercion? If an alternative source of unpolluted drinking water were available, the fluoridatipnists would be looking for some other means to compel consumption of fluoride. — Yours, etc., : PAUL MALING, September 5,) 1980. Sir, — Contrary to the Human. Rights Commission and Peter Jamieson (September. 5) we' in Christchurch would not ' have access to unpolluted water if Christchurch became fluoridated. City pollution is bad with smog, coal fires, cars and soot. Under these circumstances it would be most unwise to use rain water from the roof, and we cannot get a permit to sink a well in a residential area. A farmer, friend whose domestic water comes from - his. roof, has a malformed baby, due we believe to aerial spraying from 2,4,5,-T, so rainwater collected by the roof is not always safe, even in the country. — Yours, etc., , ;c JACK D. MEECHIN. September 5, 1980.