1st December 2005

Philip Booth, Press Officer for the Gloucestershire Green party and Secretary of the Safe Water Campaign for Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire answers the key questions about fluoridation of our water supplies: 

 
"No physician in his right senses would prescribe for a person he has never met, whose medical history he does not know, a substance which is intended to create bodily change, with the advice: 'Take as much as you like,to but you will take it for the rest of your life because some children suffer from tooth decay. ' It is a preposterous notion."

Dr Peter Mansfield,  a physician  and an advisory board member of the recent government review of fluoridation.

OUR GOVERNMENT recently voted to give power to health authorities to compel water companies to add fluoride to our drinking water.

Water companies already use chemicals to reduce the risks of communicable diseases, but the case of fluoride is different. It is being added because it is believed to be good for children’s teeth.  This is not the whole story...

 

Don’t we have fluoridated water already?
10% of the UK’s water is fluoridated (West Midlands and Tyneside) and there are plans to extend this across more of the country.

Is Europe fluoridated?
Only 2% of Europe is now fluoridated; Some rejected fluoridation from the start, others tried it and stopped, some even ban all fluoride products.

What is the fluoride used in water fluoridation?
The fluorides used are toxic waste products from the fertiliser industry and contain a whole host of impurities including heavy metals and ‘radionuclides’. They are classified as a Part 2 poison along with arsenic and it is illegal to dump it at sea or in landfill.

Have fluorides been tested for safe human consumption?
No. Fluoride is more toxic than lead, yet the Government allows 20 times as much fluoride as lead in drinking water. Fluoride is also cumulative with up to 50% remaining in the body. The Irish Food Safety Authority concluded that bottle-fed babies should not be given fluoridated tap water. Professor Sheldon, of the Government-funded York Review stated "the review did not show water fluoridation to be safe".

Is fluoride mass medication without consent?
This chemical is added to treat people and not water. It contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights and Medicine, which says people must not be medicated without their consent. No authority should violate the right of any individual to refuse medication.

Will fluoride damage my health?
Fluoride is known to cause a range of adverse health effects, the most visible being dental fluorosis which seriously disfigures teeth: the York Review found that in areas currently fluoridated 48% of children suffer dental fluorosis, 12.5% having fluorosis of “an aesthetic concern”. This mottling and pitting of teeth is a permanent disfigurement. Fluoride has been shown to displace iodine causing hypothyroidism. It also lowers IQ’s in children. A recent scandal found Chester Douglass, Dean of the Harvard School of Dentistry saying in written testimony that he found no evidence that fluoridation increased risk of osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. However, in a 2001 study which he cited, and oversaw, it was found that boys who drink fluoridated water have a greater risk of developing osteosarcoma.

But is fluoride effective?
Western Europe, which is 98% unfluoridated, has experienced a similar decline in tooth cavities to the heavily fluoridated US. The York Review found the size of the estimated benefit of fluoridation to be “only of the order of 15%” and were “surprised” by the “dearth of reliable evidence with which to inform policy.” The review found “little evidence” to show it reduces social inequalities in dental health and could come to no conclusion as to the cost-effectiveness of water fluoridation. Health authorities say poor dental health is caused by poor diet and lack of dental education. Fluoridation doesn’t address either of those problems. Education is better than fluoridation.

I don’t drink much water, should I be concerned?
People receive different doses of fluorideaccording to how much water they drink and what foods they eat. It can also be absorbed through the skin when washing. In the fluoridated West Midlands 60 per cent of people sampled had more fluoride in their bodies than the government says is safe, some had four times as much. The DoH has never tested people living in those areas to determine their body fluoride levels even before fluoridation, nor does it offer laboratory facilities to enable doctors to test for fluoride levels now.

What other dangers are there?
There are serious dangers in the transportation of hundreds of tons of the two most toxic and corrosive acids known, hydrogen fluoride and hexafluorosilicic acid. For example if the acid comes into contact with tarmac the volatile reaction creates a potentially lethal gas. A major spillage could be catastrophic.

Can I remove fluoride from my water?
Ordinary water filters cannot remove fluorides: reverse osmosis equipment is needed costing at least £450. Unfortunately fluoride will also enter the food chain via many bottled drinks and the watering of vegetables etc.

...So we have the Government’s own Review concluding that fluoridation is not very effective, has not been proven safe and causes dental fluorosis that is not “just a cosmetic issue.” We have most countries rejecting fluoridation and we have many independent scientists expressing grave concerns.

But as if that is not enough surely  administering medicinal substances to the public without consent or adequate supervision should not be allowed. Please join us to stop it happening.

For more information about the local campaign contact:
*Safe Water Campaign for Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire

Rob Mehta 01453 763943
James Christian 01453  751285
Philip Booth 01453 755451

*National Pure Water Association: www.npwa.org.uk