How many more "fluoridated" folk would not be associating various uncomfortable health symptoms with this additive and would benefit by not having fluoride in their water supply?

Many have a tendency to associate such symptoms, for instance, to "old age", perhaps unnecessarily. Funny, but I've always strongly been advised not to swallow fluoride toothpaste, must always spit it out.

Considering that folk with troubled teeth often drink coke/sugar drinks accompanied by bad diets and minimal tap water, while others drink tap or bottled water with good diets are some folk getting too much, too little, or unnecessary amounts of fluoride for their bodies?

Why not educate people to take responsibility for their own health, with a few inducements and incentives maybe, giving everyone the choice according to their actual need? Seems to me that most of that fluoride is wasted on the dishes, showers, laundry and flushed down the WC!

Michaela Samman, Bemboka

The Bega Valley Shire Council’s handling of submissions regarding the proposed fluoridation of the shire’s water supply has been nothing short of a farce.

After receiving two completely different replies to both my husband’s and my submissions, one stating it had been forwarded on but my husband would have to re-send his to a [link] provided, questions arose, such as, why are the submissions not being dealt with by council and why are they being referred to Hunter H2O or should I say Hunter H2O Pty Ltd? The inconsistency in the replies did not instill confidence.

On the Bega Valley Shire Council’s website under the heading, Consultations and Public Exhibitions, we are invited to have our say on the “Fluoridation of Water Supplies”. So feeling as strongly as we do against the fluoridation of our water supply, this is what we both did, but were appalled later to find out that council is asking for submissions to be sent to Hunter H20 Pty Ltd. 

This company is hired to manage water supplies, sewerage and management systems and actually purchased Hunter Water Australia PTY LTD in 2014 (a company fined $250,000 in 2014 for a fluoride leak).

Hunter Water supplied fluoride in the form of Fluorosilicic Acid. On the Hunter H2O/Bega Valley Shire Council jointly created website is a plethora of information singing the praises of fluoride combined with FAQ and fact sheets. It’s a PR propaganda, driving-the-agenda, biased, pro-fluoridation set-up, and council is referring all of our submissions to this company. Go figure! 

On its website, the company states that it assists “procurement strategies, provide water and wastewater treatment, operational support and services across NSW, Australia and Internationally”. This is like council saying it has decided to pay our local dairy co-op to put a substance in our milk and if you have a problem with that, ‘have your say’ and send your submission to the dairy. 

Rose Ferguson, Pambula Beach 

The Bega Valley Regional Gallery has developed a reputation as an innovative regional gallery. Under the leadership of the current director, Iain Dawson, visitor numbers have increased significantly.

An expansion of the gallery could include improvements such as larger space with higher ceilings, improved lighting and climate control to allow security and flexibility for visiting exhibitions and those curated by the Bega Valley Regional Gallery. An additional and separate exhibition area would provide an ideal space to curate shows featuring works by local/regional artists and works from the BVRG collection.

It would also provide an opportunity to integrate the gallery with other community facilities, such as a retail outlet, workshop and presentation spaces and a cafe. These could provide the opportunity for the Bega Valley Regional Gallery, and subsequently the Bega Valley, to become as nationally recognised on the cultural map as the Western Plains Cultural Centre in Dubbo and the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre in Murwillumbah.

South East Arts would strongly support the expansion of the BVRG. For the council to include this in their community strategic plan makes sense, both culturally, socially and economically.

Andrew Gray, South East Arts