Bid to put fluoride in water

Amanda Crook

May 30, 2007

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FOUR schemes for adding fluoride to tap water across Greater Manchester are being considered.

Health bosses have asked United Utilities to price up four options for the highly controversial scheme to improve the region's terrible dental health. They argue adding fluoride to the water supply could help improve dental health - it strengthens tooth enamel. But some anti-fluoride campaigners claim it is potentially dangerous mass medication.

The costs of the different projects are being kept a closely guarded secret until September when they will be given to health trusts around the region, who will have to decide if any of the options are cost effective.

If primary care trust bosses decide any of the options are viable, NHS North West will hold a public consultation - expected to last four months - into the plans. The four options are to add fluoride to: The entire north west water supply (84 water plants); water supplied to Greater Manchester (26 plants); Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Blackburn water (42 plants); the 14 largest plants in the region, which supply most of Greater Manchester except for some of Rochdale.

Idea

Councils and health trusts across Greater Manchester have publicly supported the idea of fluoridating the water supply since 2005.

Some five-year-olds in North Manchester have an average of three and half decayed, missing or filled teeth. Almost half of five-year-olds in the north west have a filled, missing or decayed tooth.

Salford Council's Community, Health and Social Care Scrutiny panel met to hear presentations on the issue. More meetings are now expected across the region. Guy Harkin, director of North West Fluoridation Evaluation group, said: "In 2005 the chief dental officer wrote to all PCTs requiring them to consider fluoridation and there are lots of health trusts now looking at the costs involved."

"The first step is to decide if fluoridation is cost effective."

Anti-fluoride campaigner Paul Cline said: "I am not against the health authority providing fluoride toothpaste or sprays to children with poor dental health but they cannot justify mass medication of all children, their parents, grandparents and neighbours."

What do you think? Have your say.

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Showing comments 1 to 17 and replies | View All

Leo B (30/05/2007 at 08:36)

Why get on your high horse? They'll do it anyway, whether we want it or not. That's how this country works....

robyn Hodgkiss (29/08/2011 at 11:44)

Thats not how it SHOULD work though, and attitudes like yours allow the government to walk all over us, contaminating the countries water suply is a scary prospect, this should not be allowed. if your against it voice your opinion!

Womble, Westhoughton (30/05/2007 at 09:24)

Why not just give the fluoride to those who actually need it, instead of forcing it on majority of people, who don't need it?

ace, manchester (30/05/2007 at 09:59)

Manchester council are determined to put fluride in your water even if you dont want it? for years people have told councils they dont want it in their water and yet again they are saying yet again they are thinking ofv doing it.When will these people realise when the voters say no they mean no!!

ace, manchester (30/05/2007 at 10:00)

Just because ive got a headache dosnt mean you have to put asprin in everybodys water ?Dont mass medicate the people.They dont want it..........

ace, manchester (30/05/2007 at 10:02)

could help improve dental health ? That word again """"COULD"""" it dosnt mean it will stop tooth decay Ect,remember that word """"COULD"""".

Xemu X. Xenu Jr. (30/05/2007 at 12:47)

I am The Leading Expert on Fluoride (incert any picture of a person in a lab coat).
.
The use of Fluoride will increase the GNP by bringing with it a long list of diseases, loss of IQ, pain and suffering, etc all of which will assist in great wealth transfer back to my bosse's bosses, the Industrialist Elites.
.
Seriously in the USA this criminal use of miniumally processed Haz-Mat Waste from Smoke Stack Scrubbers (relabeled Fluoride Treatment)has shown an actual increase in Dental Caries in the target population segment - the poor. Ingesting this Toxic Sludge is pure foolishness.
.
The 'Increase in GNP' is undeniably evil genius at its best to sell this stuff as a way to help those poor folk that give their kids sippi-cups, bed-time bottles with anything but water, processed 'from concentrate' juices, candy, chips, cow's milk, etc. The mass poisoning of Fresh Pure Clean Drinking Water by this merry band of Dental Experts fail to point out that they are in Business to Make LOTS and LOTS of Money - "Trust Us" we are Fluoride Experts!!

David, North Manchester (30/05/2007 at 13:59)

I'm in favour as this will help the poorest families who don't have strict routines for brushing teeth and it has been done in Ireland for decades with success. Fluoride is naturally occurring in tap water in a lot of the country so if there is just as much fluoride here as in Birmingham then I think it's a good thing. Any health or environmental effects would have shown up in Ireland.

robyn Hodgkiss (29/08/2011 at 11:46)

I suggest you look into fluoride a little more.. mass medicating the nation is wrong, why dont they just make toothpaste free, give discounts like milk tokens for health products such as toothpaste. i dont want anything in my water suply.

Princess_Pam, Crumpsall (30/05/2007 at 14:08)

I'm sick to death of local and national governments telling me what is and isn't good for me. We already get mass medication in bread, we don't need it in water. I wish the authorities would get on with doing what they should be doing, waste, schools, libraries, etc and stop interferring in our lives. With water, people can buy water purification filters if they really want them, but who is going to supply us with filters if we don't want fluoride in our water?

Joey, Ashton under Lyne, (30/05/2007 at 14:59)

I would like to stop drinking water that comes through lead pipes first - I do not wish to be further poisoned.

If it is to be added there will be no water rate paid for my home.

Frankacne (31/05/2007 at 16:02)

Tooth ache is not to my knowledge life threatening but fluoride certainly is. Its one of the most toxic and corrosive materials known to science and doesnt even do what it says on the tin. Not of course that the proponents of mass-medication with the stuff know or wish to know, anything about that. They are more concerned about the cheap disposal of something that requires men in space suits to handle it safely. It wont be cheap to us of course, it will soak up many tens of millions just to fluoridate Manchester, and the surrounding districts will get it whether they like it or not.

Hitler and Stalin knew that it destroyed intelligence and kept prisoners in the camps nice and docile and presumably the current ruling shower hope that after a few months of fluoride, we will all be so dim that we will stop asking questions about policies and government spending and vote them in again. Many places still dont have proper medical and dental services yet and claim major cash shortfalls in the NHS but somehow we can still waste tens of millions on promoting this muck. If you or I were to put toxic waste in the water supply we could be called terrorists but somehow its OK for the government to do it. The National Pure Water Association, Friends of the Earth and the Soil Association are all campaigning to prevent this poison spreading and anything you can do to help them will no doubt be appreciated. Its time to contact your MPs and your councillors and Say No To Fluoride and say it loud before its too late.

dodo, Lancashire (01/06/2007 at 10:39)

The step to mass-medication through the water supply is quite unconscionable. It is that step which must be resisted, irrespective of the (spurious) arguments for public benefit. For once we accept the principle that the authorities can administer uncontrolled dosages of "medicinal" chemicals to the population at large we are moving onto very dangerous ground. There is the arrogant presumption that such authorities , and the carefully selected "experts" who advise them, are invariably correct.
The alternatives of better health education, social policies, specific attention to the decay accelerated by carbonated drinks, concentrated sugars and the diet of poverty would require more liked-up though than is evident in this sledgehammer policy. And would, of course, cost more than fluoridation without benefit to the profit line of our corporate friends.

Sheila Taylor (01/06/2007 at 21:50)

There is an Association of Irish Dentists against Fluoride. These dentists are increasingly concerned about the number of children with dental fluorosis they are having to treat.
The American Dental Association sent an email to all their members in November 2006 recommending that the formula of bottle fed babies should not be made up with fluoridated tap water. At the Salford Council's Community, Health and Social Care Scrutiny panel meeting last week, Professor Lennon, from the British Fluoridation Society agreed that this was a good idea. If our water is fluoridated, who is going to proved bottled fluoride free water for bottle feeding mothers?

Sustainability_yours (02/06/2007 at 21:15)

Cure rotting teeth of the children of the poor by adding one of the most dangerous chemicals produced in industrial processes to the one most improtant thing needed for a healthy life, pure water!
Hmm, that's a good idea!
Oh I forgot to mention, the science on its benefical effect was produced at the same time as we were told that asbestos, coal dust, radiation and thalidomide were all safe!
Help, how can this be actually said to be the right thing to do?

Susan Miller (03/06/2007 at 06:54)

See Christopher Bryson discuss the findings of his new book "The Fluoride Deception," Seven Stories Press 2004. Go to www.Google.com Click VIDEO and Type fluoride. It is first on the list and has been given a 5 star rating - FASCINATING -

"Lulled by half a century of reassurances from supporters of fluoride in the public health establishment, many doctors today have no idea of the symptoms of fluoride poisoning. A silent killer may stalk us in our ignorance. There is a black hole out there, in terms of public and scientific knowledge," says former industry toxicologist Dr. Phyllis Mullenix. "There really is no public health issue that could impact a bigger population. I don't think there is an element of this society that is not impacted by fluoride. It is very far reaching and very disturbing."

Excerpt from introduction to "The Fluoride Deception," By Christopher Bryson, Seven Stories Press 2004

"Fluoride is a pharmacologically very active compound with an action on a variety of enzymes and tissues. In concentrations not far above those recommended it has overt toxic actions. Fluoride added to the drinking water can prevent carries to some extent but it can do so at least as efficiently when applied locally. Moreover, local treatment, preferentially via toothpaste, is more rational, because the caries-preventive action is exerted directly on the erupted teeth. The previous belief that its action is limited to an early period before the eruption of the teeth is not correct. The systemic action of fluoride via the blood before tooth eruption can lead to damage of the enamel, and mottled teeth. This side effect, as well as other toxic actions of fluoride is very much reduced when fluoride is applied via toothpaste." - Dr. Arvid Carlsson, 2000 Nobel Laureate Physiology/Medicine (for discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system) from postcript "The Fluoride Deception."

Elizabeth McDonagh, Doncaster (07/06/2007 at 14:40)

Children's oral health may be better in Birmingham than in Manchester but be careful before you ascribe this to the fluoridation of Birmingham's water. Other factors must be carefully investigated. Has Birmingham water more calcium which is essential for good teeth? Are Birmingham families more able to afford a good diet? Are there more dentists per head of the population? Is more money spent on preventative dentistry for children or on education in oral hygiene than in Manchester? Natural fluoride in water in this country is rarely above 0.1 ppm. Fluorosilicic acid used in fluoridation schemes is never found in nature.
In Eire there has been a worrying increase in dental fluorosis since fluoridation and regulations to reduce the level of fluoride in tap water to 0.7 ppm are currently before the Oireachtas (Eire's Parliament). There is a campaign in Eire to abandon fluoridation altogether.
Many people don't want fluoridation and they pay for their water. Their rights should be respected.

Judge Bluey (27/06/2007 at 02:27)

We have successfully stopped our council from doing this dastardly thing to our water supply, why can't you people?
I would say it is because of the apathy of all constituents of Manchester and areas.
There is more than enough evidence against fluoridation of water supplies all over the world, due to the toxic waste debate in every country.
When you discover the reason why the Rothschilds, and the Royals, of the world did this deliberately, you'll propbably realise why the world is so DUMB...that's what fluoride does to the brain.
Ask yourself how fluoride can protect enamel on teeth by being present in the stomach or the brain?
We have stopped it here, now we are working on the rest of the country

robyn Hodgkiss (29/08/2011 at 11:47)

Does anybody know if manchester actualy went through with this?

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