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Worried Bristolians met on Tuesday to start fighting plans for the enforced fluoridation of the water supply to every home in the city.
NHS bosses in Bristol have asked for permission from other local health authorities to start a feasibility study into flouridating the city’s water. If they all agree, and the study deems it appropriate, the measure can be pushed through thanks to new legislation that allows health authorities to compel water providers to fluoridate water after public consultation.
The process, according to the British Fluoridation Society, reduces the numbers of children and adults suffering from tooth decay and maintains it would be an important part of local health authorities’ oral health plans.
But campaigner Glenn Vowles, spokesman for Bristolians Against Fluoridation (BAF), says it is not ethical, doesn’t work, is not safe and not wanted.
Speaking ahead of the first meeting of BAF on Tuesday night, Mr Vowles said: “The lack of choice in whether fluoride is added to our water is the primary focus. The substance most likely to be used is fluorosilicic acid which is a waste product of the phosphate fertiliser manufacturing industry and is registered as a Class 2 poison under the Poisons Act 1972.
“There is no licence that has ever been obtained to use it as an additive to water, which is why you can see that 72% of people in Hampshire – who took part in a public consultation over plans to fluoridate water there – opposed the plans.
“We don’t want the decision imposed upon us. You will be depriving people of their choice not to have a medication – which is what fluoridation is.”
