UK - Daily Echo - Tory MP's anger at fluoride silence
Tory MP's anger at fluoride silence
By Jon Reeve
ANOTHER Tory Hampshire MP has attacked his own party for failing to deliver its promises to change the law on fluoridation.
Julian Lewis, pictured, is furious after senior Conservatives have refused to comment on the scheme, and backed away from election pledges to look at the rules surrounding how the chemical is introduced to water.
The New Forest East MP has accused health ministers of "unethically" attempting to hide behind the very laws they criticised before winning power.
And he is demanding an urgent answer on whether his party still believes communities should not be fluoridated against their will.
The move comes just days after the new Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North, Caroline Nokes, sent a letter to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, saying she was "very let down" by the failure to give people a referendum on .fluoridation.
Dr Lewis' own attack has come in a letter to Anne Milton, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, who is responsible for fluoride policy.
He is upset with a response from her to a request he made, asking the Department of Health for assurances it was still intending to give the public the final say over fluoridation schemes.
She refused to comment on the Hampshire scheme because of a judicial review that has been lodged into the way the decision was made.
More than 10,000 peo-pie gave their views >fr * during the consultation ยง on plans to add the chemical to tap water delivered to almost 200,000 homes in parts of Southampton,Eastleigh, Totton, Netley and Rownhams.
Despite almost three-quarters of responses objecting, South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) approved the plans.
Before the election, Mr Lansley and Tory leader David Cameron voiced concerns over the SHA's consultation and questioned if the scheme should be going ahead in the face of public opposition.
"Health ministers appear to be trying to shelter behind the very legislation in the very manner we objected to in opposition," Dr Lewis said.
"This is an unethical position to take and I trust that you do not intend seriously to take it." Dr Lewis said he wants an answer "without further delay" 'over whether the Government stands by the principle that communities should not have fluoridation imposed on them when there is clear opposition.
By Jon Reeve
ANOTHER Tory Hampshire MP has attacked his own party for failing to deliver its promises to change the law on fluoridation.
Julian Lewis, pictured, is furious after senior Conservatives have refused to comment on the scheme, and backed away from election pledges to look at the rules surrounding how the chemical is introduced to water.
The New Forest East MP has accused health ministers of "unethically" attempting to hide behind the very laws they criticised before winning power.
And he is demanding an urgent answer on whether his party still believes communities should not be fluoridated against their will.
The move comes just days after the new Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North, Caroline Nokes, sent a letter to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, saying she was "very let down" by the failure to give people a referendum on .fluoridation.
Dr Lewis' own attack has come in a letter to Anne Milton, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, who is responsible for fluoride policy.
He is upset with a response from her to a request he made, asking the Department of Health for assurances it was still intending to give the public the final say over fluoridation schemes.
She refused to comment on the Hampshire scheme because of a judicial review that has been lodged into the way the decision was made.
More than 10,000 peo-pie gave their views >fr * during the consultation ยง on plans to add the chemical to tap water delivered to almost 200,000 homes in parts of Southampton,Eastleigh, Totton, Netley and Rownhams.
Despite almost three-quarters of responses objecting, South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) approved the plans.
Before the election, Mr Lansley and Tory leader David Cameron voiced concerns over the SHA's consultation and questioned if the scheme should be going ahead in the face of public opposition.
"Health ministers appear to be trying to shelter behind the very legislation in the very manner we objected to in opposition," Dr Lewis said.
"This is an unethical position to take and I trust that you do not intend seriously to take it." Dr Lewis said he wants an answer "without further delay" 'over whether the Government stands by the principle that communities should not have fluoridation imposed on them when there is clear opposition.
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