Nic Brugge
Ivor Hueting
Friday January 5, 2007
The Guardian
Nic Brugge, who has died after a brief illness at 79, was secretary of the National Pure Water Association (NPWA) from 1977 to 1994 and then ran the Safe Water Information Service (SWIS) until 2001. He probably did more than anyone else at the time to counter what he saw as misinformation about fluoride and public water fluoridation proposals.
Nic was born in Dokkum, in the Netherlands, and moved to the UK in 1951. He was a qualified horticulturalist, working in nurseries in Holland and then in England. With his wife Mary, he lived in Whalley Range, Manchester, for several years from 1966. There, as an early organic grower, he made his family almost self-sufficient in garden vegetables. Over the years, his career changed from advising on fertilisers for golf courses to general insurance. Eventually, he ran his own insurance brokerage, which he maintained until he retired.
Nic's well-developed sense of social justice and his distrust of governments arose, no doubt, from having lived in occupied wartime Holland. He took a proactive role in the Save the Children and Freedom from Hunger campaigns, and was active in the anti-fluoride campaign in Manchester in the 1970s. In the belief that freedom of choice overruled any possible justification of mass medication, he maintained, "If I want to poison myself, that's my choice. No one else has the right to do it for me."
In 1977 he accepted the NPWA post, which he subsequently managed from his Shropshire home, together with his insurance business. His role was central to the production of dozens of leaflets and booklets, and the regular and informative newsletter produced for the NPWA's national membership.
Nic was vastly knowledgeable about fluoride and able to respond both to the press and public, and to support members in their local battles. He even attended international conventions on fluoride research. Among decisions that he influenced in the months before his departure in 1994 were the refusal of Tyneside water authority to accede to any fluoridation requests and the formation of the North West Councils Against Fluoridation. He had persuaded John Colquhoun, the Auckland principal dental officer - and former fluoridation advocate for the New Zealand government - to write and speak out against public water fluoridation proposals in the UK.
When faced with adversity, Nic made great personal sacrifices and stood up to anyone, even within his own committee, who stopped him from realising his objectives. With a handful of other activists, he set up the SWIS, working completely unpaid so it could fulfil a complementary role to NPWA's campaigning. Only ill health stopped him from producing the SWIS's news quarterly.
Nic was a man with a rare quality: integrity. I feel greatly honoured to have known him. He is survived by Mary, their three sons and three grandchildren.
Friday January 5, 2007
The Guardian
Nic Brugge, who has died after a brief illness at 79, was secretary of the National Pure Water Association (NPWA) from 1977 to 1994 and then ran the Safe Water Information Service (SWIS) until 2001. He probably did more than anyone else at the time to counter what he saw as misinformation about fluoride and public water fluoridation proposals.
Nic was born in Dokkum, in the Netherlands, and moved to the UK in 1951. He was a qualified horticulturalist, working in nurseries in Holland and then in England. With his wife Mary, he lived in Whalley Range, Manchester, for several years from 1966. There, as an early organic grower, he made his family almost self-sufficient in garden vegetables. Over the years, his career changed from advising on fertilisers for golf courses to general insurance. Eventually, he ran his own insurance brokerage, which he maintained until he retired.
Nic's well-developed sense of social justice and his distrust of governments arose, no doubt, from having lived in occupied wartime Holland. He took a proactive role in the Save the Children and Freedom from Hunger campaigns, and was active in the anti-fluoride campaign in Manchester in the 1970s. In the belief that freedom of choice overruled any possible justification of mass medication, he maintained, "If I want to poison myself, that's my choice. No one else has the right to do it for me."
In 1977 he accepted the NPWA post, which he subsequently managed from his Shropshire home, together with his insurance business. His role was central to the production of dozens of leaflets and booklets, and the regular and informative newsletter produced for the NPWA's national membership.
Nic was vastly knowledgeable about fluoride and able to respond both to the press and public, and to support members in their local battles. He even attended international conventions on fluoride research. Among decisions that he influenced in the months before his departure in 1994 were the refusal of Tyneside water authority to accede to any fluoridation requests and the formation of the North West Councils Against Fluoridation. He had persuaded John Colquhoun, the Auckland principal dental officer - and former fluoridation advocate for the New Zealand government - to write and speak out against public water fluoridation proposals in the UK.
When faced with adversity, Nic made great personal sacrifices and stood up to anyone, even within his own committee, who stopped him from realising his objectives. With a handful of other activists, he set up the SWIS, working completely unpaid so it could fulfil a complementary role to NPWA's campaigning. Only ill health stopped him from producing the SWIS's news quarterly.
Nic was a man with a rare quality: integrity. I feel greatly honoured to have known him. He is survived by Mary, their three sons and three grandchildren.
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