Put an end to this harmful practice

I wish to thank the informed councillors in Cork County Council who this week voted unanimously to support a motion calling for an immediate end to artificial fluoridation of public water supplies in the Republic of Ireland.

Their position is supported by all democratic parliaments throughout the European region.

I have been working this past few years with civil rights activists, medical professionals, scientific researchers and community organisations worldwide to try and finally put an end to this harmful and outdated practice which continues in a handful of countries that still insist in using public water to medicate a population.

Public health authorities such as the HSE continue to force this policy on the public despite mounting scientific evidence demonstrating its harm, and despite the public not agreeing to it. Last month the Lancet journal listed fluoride as a developmental neurotoxin associated with a wide range of infant neurological disorders, all of which we have seen unprecedented increases in prevalence in since fluoridation commenced in Ireland in the late 1960s.

Fifty years ago Cork County Council were among the foremost of local authorities that objected to this policy nationwide and this week this position was re-confirmed when all elected councillors in the nation’s largest county council voted together in demanding an end to this policy.

Other local authorities have also called for this and were ignored by the HSE.

This raises very serious questions regarding our democracy. Who exactly runs our country and who do they represent? The people behind continuation of this policy, who work in the HSE should not forget that they are servants of the public.

A republic is supposed to guarantee the rights of the individual not trample on their rights. Fluoride is added to water not to treat water, such as chlorination, but to medicate people.

No medication exists that is entirely safe and nobody knows the medical history of every consumer of water in this country. If you suffer from glucose intolerance, diabetes, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, thyroid disease, cancer or many neurological disorders, you already may have a sensitivity to fluoride as numerous published studies have demonstrated a causal association between fluoride and each of these diseases.

If you are on medication the chances are it contains fluoride, some medications contain very high levels and have long lists of noted side effects that are all associated with fluoride intoxication. Such a policy should not be tolerated.

Declan Waugh

Bandon

Co Cork