UK - Daily Echo

Members say controversial scheme will 'significantly cut' levels of decay in children
Dental group backs health chiefs' fluoridation plans
By Jon Reeve
Jon.reeve@dailyecho.co.uk
HEALTH bosses have been praised for their decision to plough ahead with controversial plans to fluoridate Hampshire tap water.
Members of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) enthusiastically backed South Central Strategic Health Authority's move to work towards adding fluoride to the water supplies delivered to nearly 200,000 people.
The organisation says it believes the scheme will reduce child tooth decay by up to half, as well as "significantly" reducing the number of kids undergoing general anaesthetic to have surgery to remove extremely damaged teeth.
Members unanimously passed a motion at a conference in Sheffield offering their support for the SHA, which has begun work to move towards implementing fluoridation for Southampton, Eastleigh, Totton, Netley and Rownhams.
The project had been on hold until a High Court judge earlier this year rejected a judicial review bought by Southampton mum Gerri Milner, who argued the SHA should have listened to public opinion before approving it.
During a public consultation, 72 per cent of the 10,000 respondents said they opposed fluoridation.
Ms Milner is now appealing the judge's decision to refuse permission for a review hearing studying whether the SHA properly took account of all the evidence sent to it during the consultation.
But a motion passed by the BASCD, which has long supported fluoridation, insists it is a "safe, effective and ost-effective approach" to reducing health inequalities.
Newly-elected BASCD president, Professor Peter Robinson, described the SHA's move to work towards instructing Southern Water to add fluoride to supplies as "a very important step in tackling the oral health problems of current and future generations of children."
He said: "In this day and age, it is wholly unacceptable that around 500 children a year from Southampton should have to undergo a general anaesthetic in hospital to have severely decayed teeth extracted.
"We can confidently anticipate that, several years after fluoridation has started in the city, this figure will have been significantly reduced.
"Four systematic reviews of the worldwide evidence on the benefits of water fluoridation published in the past ten years suggest that, hi the area to be fluoridated in and around Southampton, the number of children's teeth affected by decay will fall - probably by between about 30 per cent and 50 per cent - and there will also be long-term benefits for adults."

ANTI-FLUORIDE campaigners are holding a public meeting in Southampton tomorrow to discuss the dangers of adding the chemical to water. Members of the public are invited to Abu Bakr Mosque, Community Centre Hall, Argyle Rd, from 2pm to hear why it is believed the Hampshire scheme should not be allowed to go ahead. Hampshire Against Fluoridation (HAF) chairman Stephen Peckham will be joined in giving presentations by Arshad Sharif and dentist Zac Cox.
They will discuss research showing fluoride can cause bone cancer in young boys, as well as other illnesses including thyroid problems and Brittle Bone Disease. HAF has been a major opponent of South Central Strategic Hearth Authority's plans to fluoridate tap water in and around Southampton. It is currently organising a petition calling on Southampton City Council to pass a motion expressing its opposition to the scheme.
The authority, which is set to take over powers over fluoridation when the government scraps SHAs next year, has previously said it wants to see a referendum on the subject.