KILDARE GENERAL, 26 June 2001: by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Kildare county councillor Mary Glennon says the local authority should ‘turn off the tap’ on fluoridation next month, following a report that indicated more than three-quarters of samples given by a number of councillors showed them to have fluoride intakes above 3 milligrams a day - the level from which a UK fluoridation expert says ‘is worth reducing’.
In fact, the highest level in samples tested was 7 milligrams and the lowest 1.8, but seven were 2.9 or above. The samples were given following a presentation in April to the council by Dr Peter Mansfield of the UK-based Templegarth Trust, and Robert Pocock of VOICE, the Kildare-founded environmental group.
Dr Mansfield also sits on the UK Government Working Group on Fluoride.
Of Kildare's 25 councillors, eight gave urine samples for testing in Dr Mansfield's laboratory, and when the results were relayed to the council yesterday, Cllr Mary Glennon said she would raise a motion at next month's meeting to 'have the fluoride tap turned off in the county'.
Local authorities in Ireland have been statutorily required to add fluoride to water for 36 years. In recent times there has been a growing debate on the health effects of this fluoridation, given that fluoride is available in many other forms such as toothpastes and beverages. The anti-fluoride lobby says people may be suffering from 'fluoride overload'.
In a statement this morning, VOICE calls Dr Mansfield's results 'alarming'. The organisation wrote to county manager Niall Bradley last October saying it would be 'irresponsible' to knowingly proceed with any further fluoridation plans in the county, in the absence of any evidence indicating what the daily fluoride intake of individuals in Kildare actually is.. Councillors subsequently asked officials to review the fuuoridation programme in Kildare.
In a letter to Kildare County Council, Dr Mansfield says that a daily consumption of 4mg is 'certainly more than enough', and that 'symptom relief' has been shown from reducing fluoride intake starting as low as 3.3mg/day. "As a general guide, I would say that a daily intake of above 3mg is worth reducing," he said.
VOICE quotes World Health Organisation advice that the total daily intake of fluorides should be assessed before any further fluoridation plans are considered. The organisation criticises the absence of any published material of fluoride intake in Ireland.
The US-based Fluoride Action organisation lists 50 reasons not to allow fluoridation, including a reported high incidence of dental fluoridation - a damaging of the tooth enamel - among children in optimally fluoridated areas.
©2001trishwhelanbrianbyrne/knn