UK - Johnson calls for wider use of fluoride in water

Johnson calls for wider use of fluoride in water
Denis Campbell
Sunday February 3, 2008
The Observer
Fluoride should be routinely added to water supplies to reduce high levels of tooth decay, Health Secretary Alan Johnson will recommend this week.
Overwhelming evidence of improvements to dental health in areas with fluoridated tap water mean local communities should seriously consider making the switch, he will tell MPs.
Johnson will signal that ministers think it is time to end the situation where just 10 per cent of the population drink water containing fluoride. Although areas such as the West Midlands and north east of England add it to their water, most do not, and neither do Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Children in Birmingham, which has had fluoridated water since 1964, have half the rate of tooth decay of those in Manchester, where water is untreated.
Dentists' leaders and public health officials will welcome the move as helping to guarantee that children need fewer fillings, though it will also prompt protests from critics who see fluoridation as government interference.
The Department of Health is likely to make grants available to undertake consultation exercises, without which no decision can be taken.