We are over-exposed to fluoride

I read the article by Dr Daniel McCarthy (Feelgood, Nov 8) with utter astonishment and alarm. While Dr McCarthy may be a lecturer in human nutrition, and in his opinion adding hexafluorosilicic acid to drinking water supplies in order to increase the fluoride concentration of water is safe, the scientific facts demonstrate otherwise.

A few months ago the Biological Sciences Research Group, University of Derby and the Centre for Radiation, Health Protection Agency, London, published a Human Exposure Assessment of Fluoride for the UK in the journal Food Research International. This study found that a significant percentage of the UK population greatly exceed the recommended dietary intake for fluoride and noted that excess fluoride can lead to detrimental health effects. What the researchers found was that chronic overexposure to fluoride was occurring purely from the consumption of tea and nothing else.

The United States National Academies stated in their comprehensive report, Fluoride in Drinking Water (2006), that in countries such as the UK, where tea consumption is common, that the daily fluoride intake for many consumers would be greater than 9mg per day, which is more than twice the recommended dietary intake of 4mg per day.