- "Campaigners believe that once they have forced
local votes, the public will decide against adding [fluoride] which in
its basic form is regulated as a Class II poison. In large doses it is
lethal."
-
- Sweeping new measures to allow fluoride to be added to
large parts of Britain's water supply are set to provoke a huge political
row amid fears that 'mass medication' may harm children and lead to more
tooth disease.
-
- Ministers will try to force the new Water Bill through
the House of Commons this week before a crucial vote on the issue in nine
days. The Government will argue that adding fluoride improves dental health,
particularly among the young.
-
- Health Ministers want to give strategic health authorities
powers to order water companies to add fluoride to supplies. About five
million people, mostly in the Midlands, already have fluoride artificially
added under agreements going back decades.
-
- But opponents of fluoridation argue that the new government
rules would make it far easier for water companies to start adding the
chemical. They say that up to half Labour backbench MPs and many Conservative
MPs will vote against the Bill, putting the Government in danger of an
embarrassing defeat.
-
- 'It is mass medication, an additive in the water supply,'
said Brian Donohoe, the Labour MP for Cunninghame South in Ayrshire, who
is leading the rebellion.
-
- Bill Wiggin, the Conservative MP who sits in the Commons
committee scrutinising the Bill, said the scientific community was split
on whether adding fluoride to the water could have adverse health effects
such as dental fluorosis (a discolouring of the teeth due to excess fluoride)
or brittle bone disease. 'We need proper scientific evidence before we
proceed any further,' he said.
-
- One of the Government's most senior advisers on science
condemned the move as 'crass stupidity'. Leading toxicologist Dr Vyvyan
Howard, of Liverpool University, said: 'We should be stopping the whole
thing now rather than expanding the use of fluoride. It is totally unnecessary.
-
- 'One dose for all is wrong. Toddlers and those that have
weak kidneys are at greater risk.' Howard is a member of the Government's
advisory committee on pesticides.
-
- He said there were 10 parts per billion of fluoride in
human breast milk, 100 times less than that proposed for drinking water.
-
- 'The fact that we have evolved a system of production
of breast milk - which is low in fluoride but high in chlorine - tells
us that, probably, there is a reason for this and we need to look at that.'
-
- Some members of the Muslim community have objected to
the plans on cultural and religious grounds.
-
- Donohoe will propose an amendment to the Bill which says
that fluoride can be added to the water only if the local authority agrees.
Donohoe's move, which has cross-party support, could open the way for local
referendums on the issue.
-
- Campaigners believe that once they have forced local
votes, the public will decide against adding the chemical which in its
basic form is regulated as a Class II poison. In large doses it is lethal.
-
- The Government will say that it is willing to give water
companies unlimited liability cover in case they are sued by people worried
about the health implications.
-
- The cover will be open-ended and campaigners against
fluoride say legal bills could run to millions of pounds. The Government
is already likely to face a legal challenge to the overall policy if it
is passed in the next fortnight.
-
- 'If the Government does end up paying, how many millions
of pounds will it cost?' said Wiggin. 'We have asked them that and they
have not come up with a figure. It seems they have no idea.'
-
- Melanie Johnson, the Public Health Minister, said that
putting fluoride in the water, which is supported by the British Dental
Association and the British Medical Association, would improve dental health
for many of the poorest people in Britain.
-
- 'Although there have been substantial improvements in
dental health over the last 30 years, there continue to be areas where
there are considerable numbers of children with the disease,' she told
The Observer.
-
- 'These inequalities can be avoided. For example, five
year olds in the West Midlands, where drinking water is fluoridated, had
on average nearly three times fewer decayed or filled primary teeth than
those in the North West, where it's not fluoridated.'
-
- Johnson said that strategic health authorities would
have to be involved in 'local consultations' before going ahead with fluoridation
schemes. But she said that she was against giving local authorities the
power to decide.
-
- 'This is a public health matter which we feel should
be owned by the Health Service,' she said. She denied that offering indemnity
was an admission that water companies could be sued over health fears.
-
- 'We want all water companies to operate on a level playing
field,' she said. 'We don't want a water supplier who agrees to fluoridate
to incur any additional liabilities to one that does not have a fluoridation
scheme.
-
- 'We're recognising the importance of indemnities to the
water industry. It is not recognising any health danger from fluoride addition
to water at the recommended concentration.'
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1076235,00.html
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