Anger over fluoride plans
Martyn Shrewsbury
Health Spokesperson
Ministers' plans to add fluoride to drinking water everywhere have rightly been met by a torrent of opposition from green, health, and consumer groups.
Environmental Minister, Elliot Morley and Health Minister, Hazel Blears' recommendation that those opposed to the plans would be able to use filtered or bottled water surely contradicts any benefits, costing these people much more money than parents who buy fluoride toothpaste for their children and ensure they brush after each meal. There are also the obvious environmental implications of the huge increase in plastic waste that bottles and filters would cause.
A recent study found that in the fluoridated Republic of Ireland, 40% more people contracted bone cancer than in non-fluoridated Northern Ireland. Fluoride is a corrosive industrial waste used in rat poison, and is more toxic than lead. The vast increase of fluoride in the water would therefore be an environmental concern as well as a health worry.
Most European governments oppose fluoridation because of the evidence that it increases the risk of bone cancer, it kills red blood cells, and leads to the breakdown of collagen, as well as the standard medical ethic that no-one should be forced to take medication without their consent. The government's plans are essentially for the forced medication of Britain. In this country, the National Pure Water Association has repeatedly asked the UK Department of Health to cite one scientific or laboratory study from anywhere in the world which proves that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in humans. They have failed to do so.
Fluoridation does not address the real causes of tooth decay - poor dental hygiene and excessive refined sugar consumption. Only a proper programme of education can hope to. Most European countries have reduced tooth decay in recent years, and most of them haven't used fluoridation. It really is obvious that education is the answer.
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