Fluoride, poison in our water

COMPULSIVE WATER FLUORIDATION IS DANGEROUS AND IMMORAL, SAYS GREEN PARTY HEALTH SPOKESPERSON


Green Party health spokesperson Stuart Jeffery today slated controversial Government plans to fluoridate national water supplies, claiming that medicating people without permission breaches European Human Rights conventions.

With Health Secretary Alan Johnson's recommendation that fluoride should be routinely added to UK water supplies, Green Party health spokesperson Mr. Jeffery said

"Besides the reality of negative health effects, this is an issue of medical ethics. Fluoridating water is essentially medicating people without their permission, and the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine distinctly states that individuals have the right not to be medicated without their consent.

"Poor dental health is a complex public health issue. The root causes are poor diet and inadequate dental hygiene. Typically the government seems more concerned with dangerous knee-jerk action and to be seen 'doing something', rather than confronting the real causes of the problem.

"While we continue to feed refined sugar to our children in schools, efforts to reduce tooth decay will be in vain."

Mr. Jeffery continued

"The health case for fluoride has been far from made. Claims about the effectiveness of fluoride simply do not stand up to close scrutiny. While topical fluoride on teeth does help prevent tooth decay, there is simply no good evidence that systemic fluoride does.

"Fluoride is a known poison if ingested over a long period of time, even in small daily doses. Its consumption has been linked to a range of medical afflictions including severe skeletal problems, fluorosis (discoloration of the teeth), osteosarcoma (a rare form of bone cancer) in boys, and problems affecting the central nervous system.

"Most European countries have managed to reduce levels of tooth decay in recent years, in almost all cases without fluoridation.

"The Green Party wants to see a programme of education for children and adults regarding proper dental hygiene and a healthy diet, a health warning on all sources of fluoride intended for human
consumption, and a ban on the fluoridation of drinking water."