Dentists are calling on the Irish Government to reconsider the fluoridation of drinking water supplies in light of a new US study linking the practice with bone cancer.

Since the 1960s, fluoride has been added to all public water supplies in Ireland with the aim of improving dental hygiene.

Several groups, including the Irish Dentists Opposing Fluoridation organisation, have been campaigning for an end to the practice for several years, claiming its health effects are unknown.

The IDOF says a new study conducted in Harvard University has now found links between fluoridated water and an increased risk of teenage boys developing osteosarcoma, or cancer of the bone.

The organisation said such links had previously been suspected and its own research had already found that bone cancer levels in the Republic are 40% higher than those in the North, where fluoride is not added to drinking water.

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