News Archive

What links your toothpaste to the atomic bomb and the world’s most corrosive acid? Fluoride has been added to Bedfordshire’s water with little or no public debate. GARRICK ALDER reports on one campaigner who refuses to go with the flow. Cynthia Bagchi is shocked but not surprised. Another health study showing the negative effects of […]

THE time has come – once again – for Wales to decide whether fluoride should be added to the water supply, a politician has said. A Labour AM has called for a national debate on the controversial issue, which has the potential to divide the nation. Fluoride was last added to the water supply in […]

POOR dental health and deprivation across Burnley and Pendle is forcing NHS chiefs to look into increasing the level of fluoride in the public’s water supply. However, this has sparked debate among campaigners who consider fluoride a toxic chemical linked to osteoporosis and cancer. Health bosses say there is an obvious link with tooth decay […]

HEALTH bosses are considering adding fluoride to East Lancashire’s water to combat poor dental health. The recommendation has come after a review into oral health throughout the area has revealed that rates of severe dental problems in children have remained consistently high since the mid-90s. Flouride, which the British Medical Association says strengthens teeth, is […]

The Claim “Our children have the best dental health in Europe.” Ann Keen, health minister, 25 September 2007 The background Our teeth, it seems, are a sore point. It might be easier to get someone to replace your hip these days, but getting someone to examine your molars is (ahem) like pulling teeth. At the […]

RESEARCHERS in York have reignited a fiery debate by accusing the Government of using selective evidence to promote the use of fluoride in the water supply. The long-running saga has divided the nation, with opinion split over whether we should be subjected to a form of “mass-medication”. In 1999, the Department of Health commissioned a […]

The government is accused by senior doctors today of selectively using inadequate evidence to promote the use of fluoride in the water supply. The public health measure, intended to improve the country’s teeth, has attracted huge controversy. Anti-fluoride campaigners claim the chemical has potentially harmful side-effects, while dentists and some public health experts insist it […]

A FORMER Tory councillor who said he would never stand for office again says he will be an anti-fluoride candidate at the next election. Robert Reynolds represented the Sowerby Bridge area for two years until 2006 when he said he was quitting politics and advocating what he called “constitutional terrorism”. “I used to believe I […]

A Preston dentist has backed calls for fluoride to be added to drinking water to tackle the poor state of children’s teeth. The Evening Post recently revealed how health chiefs are lobbying to reduce the high levels of tooth decay affecting youngsters in the city by introducing fluoride into tap water. Austin Hughes, who has […]

Health chiefs want to put fluoride into drinking water in central Lancashire. Youngsters in Preston have some of the most rotten teeth in the country and more than half of five-year-olds in the city have had experience of tooth decay. Now dental health specialists want to reduce overall levels of cavities by supporting the introduction […]