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UK Against Fluoridation

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

UK - House of Lords

House of Lords
Written answers and statements, 7 February 2011
Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (Crossbench)To ask Her Majesty's Government what effect the lowering in 2007 of the concentration of fluoride in the water supply in the Republic of Ireland from 1.0 to 0.7 parts per million, the recent similar lowering in Canada, the current proposals for a lowering to 0.7 in the United States, and the setting of an upper limit of 0.8 ppm under the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations 2007, has had on their stance on the suggestion by the York report on water fluoridation in 2000 that the concentration in the United Kingdom might be lowered to around 0.8 ppm.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in considering the concentration of fluoride in water supplies in the United Kingdom, they have assessed which other countries in the same geographical latitude as England continue to fluoridate their water supplies at a concentration of 1 part per million.

Hansard source (Citation: HL Deb, 7 February 2011, c18W)Earl Howe (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Quality), Health; Conservative)

The European Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption sets a maximum limit of 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per litre of water. In 2007, following a review of water fluoridation in Eire, the Government of the Republic of Ireland amended Irish regulations, entitled the European Communities (Drinking Water) Regulations 2007, to state:

"The amount of fluoride which may be added to public water supplies shall be such that the water, after the addition of the fluoride, shall contain not more than 0.8 milligrams of fluoride per litre of water, and not less than 0.6 milligrams of fluoride per litre (mg/l) of water".

We understand that in Canada, which like Ireland is on a similar latitude to the United Kingdom, the Government have adopted a maximum concentration of 0.7 milligrams per litre.

The Systematic Review of Water Fluoridation undertaken by the University of York recommended:

"Future studies should address the impact of using lower levels of water fluoride content, such as 0.8ppm in a formal way in conjunction with an efficacy study".

In this connection, we will be carefully considering the Department of Health and Human Services' proposals for the USA and the outcome of its consultation, to decide whether any changes should be made to the target concentration used in England.

Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (Crossbench)
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 7 December 2010 (WA 34-5), in which subsection of Section 12 of the York report A Systematic Review of Water Fluoridation can be found the statement appearing on the website of the National Fluoride Information Centre that areas of past concern about fluoridation no longer require further investigation.
...
Earl Howe (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Quality), Health; Conservative)

We accept that there is no reference in the York report to support this statement. We have written directly to the National Fluoride Information Centre to amend its website.

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