Sodium Silicofluoride in our water from December

Cairns Regional Council has confirmed the type of fluoride chemical it has chosen for the fluoridation of water at the Tunnel Hill and Behana Creek water treatment plants from the end of December.

Council's General Manager of Cairns Water, Bruce Gardiner, says that an exact start date has not yet been determined.

"Commissioning of the fluoridation equipment is scheduled to commence on or about the 7 December," Bruce Gardiner says. "The date for the Behana Creek supply has not yet been determined but will be within the first six months of next year."

Three fluoride compound chemicals are permitted within the State legislation and, according to Cairns Regional Council, are in use across Australia. They are Sodium Fluoride, Sodium Silicofluoride, and Fluorosilicic Acid.

Sodium Silicofluoride has been chosen Cairns Council and was chosen based on the "efficiency, product availability, capital and operating costs, and environmental matters."

"There have been various claims in correspondence to Council with regard to the toxicity or poison level of the different forms of the chemical," Bruce Gardiner says.

Gardiner cites "safety data sheets" from the chemical manufacturers:-

• 1. Toxicity Information
  
  All fluoride chemicals have toxic characteristics
  *The LD50 is the dose at which 50% of animals died from ingestion of a single dose of the chemical.
  
  Acute Toxicity: The toxicity information above indicates that Sodium Fluoride is more toxic than the other two forms of the chemical.
  
  "The concentration of fluoride that will be introduced to the Cairns water supply will not be above 0.7 mg/kg," Bruce Gardiner says.
  
  2. Poison rating
  
  "There have been various claims in correspondence to Council regarding the poisons rating of the three different fluoride compounds," Bruce Gardiner says. "These have included claims that Sodium Fluoride is a schedule 2 compound (S2) and Sodium Silicofluoride is a schedule 7 compound (S7)."
  
  He says that the poison schedule rating, or S rating, refers to the controls that are on the sale, handling and management of a chemical. The higher the rating number the more controls are required to be in place.
  
  Sodium Fluoride and Sodium Silicofluoride in their raw form are both schedule 6 chemicals (S6), referred to as a ‘Poison’ on the MSDS poison rating scale. Fluorosilicic Acid is a schedule 7 chemical (S7) referred to as a ‘Dangerous Poison’.
  
  3. Chemical Quality
  
  "There have been claims that some of the fluoride compounds are ‘Industrial grade’ while others are ‘pharmaceutical grade’. All chemicals used in fluoridation of water supplies are required to meet stringent quality criteria based on standard testing procedures," Bruce Gardiner says.
  
  "The quality limits have been set based on significant factors of safety for any potential contaminants that may be found with the product."
  
  Each chemical batch delivered to a water supplier must be individually tested and testing results provided to the water supply authority.