A proposal to fluoridate Britain’s drinking water would violate the European Convention on Human Rights, the Green Party has warned.
In a report entitled "Truth Decay: Challenging New Labour’s propaganda on water fluoridation", the party argues the move would medicate consumers without their consent.
The warning comes ahead of a parliamentary vote on the controversial issue later this year.
"Campaigners in any threatened community will be able to blow Tony Blair’s fluoridation plan right out of the water," said party executive member and report author Spencer Fitz-Gibbon.
"If the law changes there will be campaigns all around the country. The Green Party will be well-equipped to play a leading role in defeating local fluoridation proposals, and we’ll make it a local election issue too."
The report also warned that experience from the Republic of Ireland revealed that bottle-fed babies were ingesting high levels of fluoride.
Consumers in Ireland are 40 per cent more likely to suffer from cancer than their counterparts in the north where there is no fluoridation, the study argued.
"There are now only about half a dozen countries in the world that fluoridate to any extent," said the Green Party’s Margaret Wright.
"Tony Blair is taking us backwards. In the last couple of months Switzerland has stopped fluoridating, and Korea is stopping after its professional bodies came out against fluoridation.
"Fluoridation is an ill considered, ill advised and illogical policy. It has been linked with cancer, thyroid trouble, irritable bowel syndrome, premature puberty in girls and a range of other medical disorders."
But the findings of the report have been disputed by the British Dental Association.
"I have seen children as young as five coming through the doors at Manchester dental hospital having to have their teeth removed because the level of decay is so bad," said Professor Liz Hay, scientific adviser and chairwoman of the association’s health and science committee.
"The addition of fluoride into water supplies in certain areas could dramatically reduce the levels of tooth decay and give children a decent start in life.
"The amendment to the Water Bill will give local communities the opportunity to decide whether they want fluoride added to their water supplies.
"By blocking the amendment, the anti-fluoridation lobby are blocking communities’ right to decide."
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