A ROW has erupted over moves to add fluoride to Manchester's water.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Alan Johnson urged the NHS to consider adding the chemical to tap water supplies in areas with poor dental health. Over the next three years the government will release £14m of funding to the Strategic Health Authorities where communities back the move.

Mr Johnson said: "Fluoridation is scientifically supported, it is legal, and it is our policy, but only two or three areas currently have it and we need to go much further in areas where dental health needs to be improved."

He described a fluoridation scheme as an `effective and relatively easy way' to tackle health inequalities which would give poor children a dental health boost that could `last a lifetime.'

Manchester has some of the poorest dental health in the country.

Around 61 per cent of five-year-olds in the city have tooth decay, and among those youngsters the average number of teeth affected is five. Meanwhile, in Great Britain as a whole, 39 per cent of youngsters suffer tooth decay, while the average number of teeth affected is 3.9.

Campaigners on both sides of the debate agree that dental health in Manchester is poorer in Manchester than in Birmingham, where water supplies have been fluoridated since the 1960s. But they are divided on whether fluoride is the answer.

Sheila Jones, of the British Fluoridation Society, told the MEN they were `absolutely delighted' at Mr Johnson's call.

Traumatic

The campaigner, who is based at Booth Hall Children's Hospital, added: "Dental health in Manchester is appalling. Kids in Manchester have more than twice the number of decayed, missing or rotten teeth than in Birmingham, and because of the level of disease we put five times more children under general anaesthetic for tooth extractions, which can be very traumatic.

"Every week 60 children have teeth extracted at the dental hospital, and some children in Greater Manchester have all their teeth taken out by the age of five - this is extreme, but not rare."

"Can we deny the kids who are not lucky enough to have parents that get them to brush their teeth and avoid all the sugary drinks that are advertised? Some families are up against it and it's not the children's fault or the parents' fault. Children in the West Midlands have their teeth protected irrespective of what their parents do."

Steve Clarke, of Manchester Against Fluoridation, told the MEN Greater Manchester was being `sold a lie' by the pro-fluoride lobby.

He said: "Birmingham does not have a better dental record because of fluoridation, but because they have twice as many dentists. They have extra funding for dentists because 48 per cent of children suffer from dental fluorosis caused by the fluoride in the water.

"There are naturally fluoridated areas in the UK but what will be added to the water is chemical fluoride. Fluoride contains five cancer containing agents including arsenic, lead and mercury. Our government wouldn't allow this stuff to be dumped in rivers or landfill, it's extremely toxic. If you wouldn't put it in the landfill why put it in the reservoir?

"There can never be any justification for allowing members of the public to be medicated against their free will. Fluoride has been linked to cancer and in parts of America they are abandoning it because of the litigation. The government is only keen on fluoride because their so-called advisors are working on old science."

Sheila Jones admitted that fluoridated water led to a `small increase' in fluorosis, but said this was of the kind that produced a `pearly' rather than crusty brown effect. She said there was `absolutely no evidence' to support claims of a link to cancer.

The Chief Dental Officer, Barry Cockcroft, has issued guidance to health authorities on the scientific evidence on fluoridation, the planning of new fluoridation schemes, the conduct of public consultations, and the implementation of new schemes.

All water contains fluoride. About 5.5m people in the UK have it in water at the level considered healthy for teeth, while a further 500,000 live in areas where it occurs naturally at one part per million of water, a level considered beneficial.

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