NPWA

Southern Daily Echo
29 October 2009

Fluoridation case is blown out of water by dental data
by Jon Reeve

BLOWN out of the water

That is what campaigners fighting plans to add fluoride to Hampshire water supplies say new dental health figures have done to health bosses' justification for the scheme.

A survey of five-year-olds across England has found Southampton children suffer barely any more tooth decay than the national average.

The research found the number of five-year-olds in the city who have had problems with their teeth has fallen dramatically, as has the average number of diseased teeth.

With Southampton's poor record on youngsters' dental health given as one of the main reasons it is necessary to fluoridate the water supplies of nearly 200,000 residents, opponents now say there is no reason to go ahead with the scheme.

Hampshire Campaigners hand-in a letter to the Department of Health in Whitehall, London

Yesterday, opponents of fluoridation met in Westminster to discuss the South Central Strategic Health Authority’s decision to fluoridate the water supplies of nearly 200,000 people in the Southampton and South West Hampshire area. Campaigners from Hampshire Against Fluoridation were able to cite 15,348 objections to the fluoridation plan from the local area.

If implemented, Southampton and environs will become the first area of the UK to fluoridate following a law change in 2003.  The Water Act 2003 gives health chiefs the power to instruct water companies to mass medicate their customers with fluorosilicic acid via their water supplies. The Southampton case is seen widely as a ‘test case’ which will significantly influence the decisions of other Strategic Health Authorities around the country. Opponents of fluoridation, including a contingent of some 35 concerned citizens from Hampshire Against Fluoridation were hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Fluoridation. Present were three Hampshire MPs,

In spite of 72% of local residents opposing fluoridation, South Central Strategic Health Authority (SCSHA) will instruct Southern Water to mass medicate 195,000 people in parts of Southampton and south west Hampshire. 

SCSHA and Southampton City PCT blatantly promoted fluoridation throughout their Consultation into the PCT's proposal to fluoridate the water supplies of 195,000 people in parts of Southampton and Hampshire, which ran from 8 September to 19 December 2008.  In spite of that, a clear majority of local people have responded that they are opposed to fluoridation.  The SHA had 10,065 written responses in total.  72% of all local written responses to the consultation were opposed to fluoridation. 

The information above formed parts of a Public Information Notice that NPWA placed in the Southern Daily Echo on 29 November and 6 December 2008.  View the full notice here