Written Questions Parliament

Lord Storey Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Education)

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the United States’ National Toxicology Program’s report State of the Science Concerning Fluoride Exposure, dated September 2022.

Lord Markham The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care

The Department notes that this paper is still in draft and that according to the United States National Toxicology Programme (NTP) website, which was updated on 15 March 2023, the NTP is going through an internal process to decide on final publication.

We also note that earlier drafts of the paper were reviewed by the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (US NASEM). At the time, the US NASEM stated that the review cannot be used to draw conclusions on effects at lower levels of fluoride, i.e., below the United Kingdom regulatory limit for fluoride of 1.5 milligram per litre. This means that the findings of the US NTP draft review could not be used to draw conclusions relevant to existing water fluoridation schemes in the UK.