ANTI-fluoride protesters have held a day long demonstration outside the Irish Medicines Board to draw attention to “the continued mass medication of the Irish people” through water fluoridation.

Aisling FitzGibbon, known as The Girl Against Fluoride, asked why “fluoride tablets in this country require a doctor’s prescription and yet the Irish Medicines Board has never licensed the chemicals used in water fluoridation”.

She said they wanted to highlight to the public how “various government bodies are complicit” in mass medication through the water system.

ARGUMENT

The protesters’ message, she added, is simple.

“Whether you are in favour or fluoride or against it, it is unethical to put fluoride in the water and mass medicate without consent,” she said. “That’s the crux of the argument.

“This is a huge issue now because people are being asked to pay for water and a high percentage do not want fluoride in their water supply.”

The occupational therapist from Tralee who says she overcame depression by removing fluoride from her own water supply, points to a growing body of research against fluoridation of water.

“The Lancet Journal, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world, came out in March with evidence that fluoride was a developmental neurotoxin in the same category as lead and mercury,” she added.

“The American Dental Association, which is in favour of water fluoridation, has warned, however, against making up baby formula bottle with fluoridated water.”

The protesters were joined by a community circus from Cabinteely complete with fire jugglers, stilt walkers and balloon modellers.

A spokesperson for the Irish Medicine Board told the Herald that the fluoridation of public water supplies is outside the Board’s role and remit.

“Fluoride salts or silica fluoride are not classed as a medicine, and as such there is no legislative requirement to license fluoride as added to drinking water,” they said.

WATER

They pointed out that neither the drinking water itself nor the fluoride added to it in the form of fluoride salts or silica fluoride were categorised as medicinal products.

Under EC Regulation, water “when it comes out of the tap is defined as a food or foodstuff”.

The Irish Medical Organisation is being urged to take a stand against fluoride in public drinking water at its AGM in Maynooth, Co Kildare, this weekend.

Dr Elizabeth Cullen of the Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association, has tabled a motion calling for an end to the practice.

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