Fluoride already in the water
8:50am Wednesday 18th March 2009 in Search
ALWYNNE Cartmell makes two common errors in the letter published in last Saturday’s Your Views.
The first is the belief that fluoride does not already exist in the water supply. It does but not in Bolton at a level which is optimal for dental health.
The second is to refer to fluoride as a toxin without any reference to its concentration.
The plain fact is that our water supply contains naturally occurring chemicals — not only fluoride but arsenic, lead, cadmium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nickel, zinc, barium, copper, manganese, trichloroethane, aluminium and tetrachloroethane amongst many others.
In addition our water supply already contains a number of chemicals which are added to the supply for a number of very sound reasons; for example chloride is added to make the water safe to drink (“pure” water can in fact be a very dangerous commodity) and aluminium sulphate is added to make perfectly potable water more attractive in appearance.
The good news is that all these potentially dangerous chemicals including fluoride are kept at levels which are not harmful to health. United Utilities has a highly trained and skilled workforce which constantly monitors the concentrations of chemicals in the water supply to ensure that we enjoy water of superb quality.
A simple fact which bears repeating is that if fluoride were to enter the water supply at the levels proposed by the medical profession (one part per million) as a result of an accident or indeed as the by product of industrial activity, there is nothing that the Environmental Agency, Drinking Water Inspectorate or any other regulatory body would do about it because it would be well within the internationally accepted standards of safety for that particular chemical.
On the issue of “democratic rights”, your correspondent will surely know that there was a full and comprehensive debate on water fluoridation during the passage of the 2003 Water Act. The section enabling Strategic Health Authorities to alter the level of fluoride in the water supply to one part per million was passed in a free vote and by substantial majorities in both Houses of Parliament. Are the House of Commons and the House of Lords including two of Bolton three MPs) involved in some vast conspiracy to poison the town’s population? I think not.
Guy Harkin (Retired Director of the NHS North West Fluoridation Evaluation Group)
