S.A. - Determined to force all big towns and cities to fluoridate
Plan to dose tap water with fluoride
March 13, 2007 Edition 1
Tony Carnie
The Department of Health is back from the drawing board, determined to force all big towns and cities to dose their drinking water with fluoride.
And while government dentists believe the move is necessary to protect children's teeth, the international scientific community remains sharply divided about the potential for long-term harm to elderly people, the sick, and very young children who drink fluoridated water.
New draft laws were circulated recently to water boards and municipalities. But the latest version appears to contain few changes to previous regulations which were rejected by several large water supply boards and other groups opposed to the compulsory medication of national drinking water supplies.
The recommended guideline for optimum fluoride levels has been fixed at 0.7mg of fluoride per litre of water, the same level originally gazetted in September 2000.
The original plan for compulsory fluoridation was due to take effect in September 2003, but was quietly shelved following widespread concern about the cost implications for water suppliers along with several concerns about health, including the potential for bone disease, cancer, infertility and mottled teeth.
The Water Research Commission also published a comprehensive review of the government fluoridation plans in 2004 which raised several red flag risks - including the possibility that HIV/Aids patients and people with kidney disease and heart problems could be especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of fluoride.
Bettina Genthe, of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, also cautioned parliament's portfolio committee on water affairs that fluoride appeared to be toxic to immune system cells, even at very low water concentration levels.
She warned against the fluoridation plan on the basis that there were still too many gaps in the scientific data.
Former Rand Water chairman Piroshaw Camay said that the country could be setting itself up for more "national disasters" and urged the Health Department to "abandon this fruitless exercise".
Camay, who is also director of Core, a Johannesburg-based policy research and advocacy group, noted that water supplies in Mangaung, near Bloemfontein, had to be cut off a month ago because they had not been chlorinated properly.
"Proper chlorination is almost as routine as tying your shoelaces, but if some people are still failing in this area, what new problems can we expect from fluoridation?"
March 13, 2007 Edition 1
Tony Carnie
The Department of Health is back from the drawing board, determined to force all big towns and cities to dose their drinking water with fluoride.
And while government dentists believe the move is necessary to protect children's teeth, the international scientific community remains sharply divided about the potential for long-term harm to elderly people, the sick, and very young children who drink fluoridated water.
New draft laws were circulated recently to water boards and municipalities. But the latest version appears to contain few changes to previous regulations which were rejected by several large water supply boards and other groups opposed to the compulsory medication of national drinking water supplies.
The recommended guideline for optimum fluoride levels has been fixed at 0.7mg of fluoride per litre of water, the same level originally gazetted in September 2000.
The original plan for compulsory fluoridation was due to take effect in September 2003, but was quietly shelved following widespread concern about the cost implications for water suppliers along with several concerns about health, including the potential for bone disease, cancer, infertility and mottled teeth.
The Water Research Commission also published a comprehensive review of the government fluoridation plans in 2004 which raised several red flag risks - including the possibility that HIV/Aids patients and people with kidney disease and heart problems could be especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of fluoride.
Bettina Genthe, of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, also cautioned parliament's portfolio committee on water affairs that fluoride appeared to be toxic to immune system cells, even at very low water concentration levels.
She warned against the fluoridation plan on the basis that there were still too many gaps in the scientific data.
Former Rand Water chairman Piroshaw Camay said that the country could be setting itself up for more "national disasters" and urged the Health Department to "abandon this fruitless exercise".
Camay, who is also director of Core, a Johannesburg-based policy research and advocacy group, noted that water supplies in Mangaung, near Bloemfontein, had to be cut off a month ago because they had not been chlorinated properly.
"Proper chlorination is almost as routine as tying your shoelaces, but if some people are still failing in this area, what new problems can we expect from fluoridation?"
posted by Bill at
9:51 AM
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