Hampshire campaigners to help us

Here is our press release that went out today about our meeting on 22nd April:

TWO HAMPSHIRE ANTI-FLOURIDATION CAMPAIGNERS COME TO STROUD AS FEARS GROW OF THREAT TO GLOS WATER

Health bosses voted in February to add fluoride to tap water in Southampton despite the County Council and 72% of 10,000 respondents in a public consultation opposing the plan. The move raises concerns for the Gloucestershire Safe Water Campaign who see it as a step closer to fluoridation locally.

Cllr Philip Booth, Secretary of the Safe Water Campaign, which has over 1,500 Gloucestershire supporters and meets each month in Stroud, said: "The Hampshire campaign was hugely successful in getting the message across, but the health authority has refused to listen to the evidence. They have also ignored the will of the people: 72% didn't want it and yet they still are going to do it. It is deeply unethical and sadly will lead to attempts to introduce fluoridation in other parts of the country. We hope to learn from these two Hampshire campaigners so that we can ensure water fluoridation does not happen here."

The Safe Water Campaign will meet at 5.30pm in Stroud on 22nd April. Please call Rob Mehta on 01453 763943 if you would like to attend.

The Hampshire decision is the first time a health trust in England has been allowed to introduce fluoridation under the new law that this Government has brought in. NHS Bristol have announced last month that they are now considering the fluoridation of Bristol’s drinking water.

Philip Booth added: "This is clearly a human rights issue: no one should be medicated without their consent. Furthermore the Government's own scientific review found very little evidence to show that fluoridation of our water supplies improves dental heath. Moreover, its chair, Professor Sheldon, stated that 'the review did not show water fluoridation to be safe'. Many people have real health concerns about adding fluoride to our water."

Dr. Peter Mansfield, a physician from the UK and an advisory board member of the York review said: "No physician in his right senses would prescribe for a person he has never met, whose medical history he does not know, a substance which is intended to create bodily change, with the advice: 'Take as much as you like, but you will take it for the rest of your life because some children suffer from tooth decay. ' It is a preposterous notion."

Philip Booth concluded: "Poverty and the over-availability of addictive, sugar-rich foods are significant causes of tooth decay. But the Government is unlikely to challenge the profitable position of the major food manufacturers and retailers who benefit at the expense of our children's health - and teeth. Better dental care and education is also needed, but that too is hampered by higher dental charges for adults as the Government has overseen dentistry move into the private sector - and for many in Gloucestershire finding a dentist at all is a serious challenge."