Review of fluoride use in water to be completed by Christmas

A review on the use of fluoride in the public water system will be completed by Christmas amid growing calls for the practice to be scrapped.

It emerged yesterday that Bantry in West Cork is the latest town to call for a ban on fluoride in the water supply, following the unanimous passing of a motion by Cork County Council on Monday asking for the removal of fluoride from public water.

The Irish Examiner yesterday revealed that Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney had told a meeting of Fine Gael councillors that an international group of consultants is to be appointed by the Government to examine the use of fluoride in the public water supply.

The Department of Health yesterday confirmed that it had requested the Health Research Board to conduct a review of the international evidence on fluoridation of water, to begin next month and to be concluded by December.

A spokesperson for the HRB said it was “not aware” of any international component to the review, which will be carried out by personnel in the HRB’s Evidence Centre. However, after it completes its review of the national and international evidence, the report could be sent for international peer review. The spokesperson said the aim was to look at international best practice ahead of any possible change in government policy.

A Health Department spokesman said the review will “synthesise the international and national evidence on the impact of water fluoridation [at its current level] on the health of the population and on the environment”.

“The review will examine the evidence [positive and negative] of the impact of water fluoridation at its current level [0.6 to 0.8 parts per million] on the health of the population and on the environment, and also summarise gaps in the evidence base reported in the literature,” said the spokesperson.

The department is also collaborating in a University College Cork-led research project, Fluoride and Caring for Children’s Teeth, while a study on general and oral health findings in adults linked to the duration of exposure to fluoridated water as part of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging will begin shortly. The spokesman said a number of international reports had “not established any basis for considering that artificially fluoridated water poses any systemic health risks”.

The debate on fluoride grew yesterday following the Cork County Council motion, with Fianna Fáil councillor Christopher O’Sullivan, who tabled the motion, saying there was now “public outcry” on the issue.

“The reason I was compelled to put down this motion is because element of choice is taken away from us,” he told The Last Word on Today FM.

However, Sean Malone, president of the Irish Dental Association, said water fluoridation was “a safe and effective way of reducing decay in the population” and said “the less money you have, the more you benefit from it”.

Declan Waugh, who is at the forefront of the campaign to remove fluoride from the water supply, also claimed the Cork County Council motion was “a milestone in local democracy”. However, his views expressed on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke were criticised by journalist Gerry Byrne, who said Mr Waugh was seeking to make “political capital” on the issue.