'Unacceptable' teeth health gap

'Unacceptable' teeth health gap
Children should have regular dental check ups
There is an "unacceptable and growing chasm" between good and poor dental health in the UK, dentists warn.
Greater focus is needed on prevention, especially in children living in deprived areas, a report from the British Dental Association (BDA), says.
Older people and those with disabilities are also particularly at risk from poor oral health and need more attention, it found.
The Department of Health said oral health is improving.
The BDA called for a more integrated approach from health and social care to tackle rising inequalities in dental problems.

"We agree with the British Dental Association that it is vital to do everything possible to reduce oral health inequalities
Dr Barry Cockcroft, England's chief dental officer"

Among children, the effect of deprivation on teeth is particularly marked, they said.
In the poorest areas, 60% of five year-olds and 70% of eight year-olds have obvious signs of decay in their milk teeth. This compares with 40% of five year-olds and 55% of eight year-olds in more affluent areas.
Variation
The report also highlights a seven-fold difference in dental health between the best and worst health trusts in England.
Alcohol and tobacco are also key factors in oral health inequalities, the BDA added, and dentists should be more involved in counselling patients, helping them to quit.
And it also called for targeted fluoridation to reduce the risk of tooth decay.
Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser to the BDA, said: "There has been a significant improvement in the nation's overall oral health over the last 30 years, but despite that we still see a huge disparity that is all-too-often related to social deprivation.
"It is completely unacceptable that in Britain, in 2009, such a wide gap should exist.
"Much good work to address this problem has begun, and this report commends a number of schemes such as Brushing for Life and Sure Start that are starting to make a difference.
"However, a great deal of work remains to be done and it is vital dentists are supported in doing it."
Chief Dental Officer for England, Dr Barry Cockcroft, said: "We agree with the British Dental Association that it is vital to do everything possible to reduce oral health inequalities.
"Our children have among the lowest rates of tooth decay anywhere in the world.
"We have already published the world's first evidence based guide to prevention, and it has been sent to every single dentist in practice in England."

FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK

FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK
http://www.fluoridealert.org/
FAN Bulletin 1096:
Southampton bombshells October 30, 2009 Two delicious bombshells exploded and ripped the fluoridation proposal to smithereens in Southampton, UK.
First, came the announcement yesterday that tooth decay (despite the claims of the Strategic Health Authority to the contrary in their propaganda-riddled campaign) was no worse in Southampton than the rest of the country and was actually better than some fluoridated communities (see story 1 below). Second, came the statement today from one of the leading councilors of Southampton (the only community to register support for the proposal (the city of Southampton) that if they had known this the council would never have voted for the proposal (see story 2 below).As one local MP said, "their justification for fluoridation has just gone down the plug hole."We have printed out both reports below, but we would remind you that we keep track of news items on fluoridation battles around the world in our "Latest News" section (http://www2.fluoridealert.org/) and we urge those who have the time to keep track of these reports. This is a worldwide battle. Lots of little Davids are taking on the huge Goliath of government forced fluoridation programs. When we get a win anywhere we all need to celebrate.Having lifted your spirits, please take a tranquilizer, and read the horrendously arrogant editorial Fluoridation decision not before time from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. With media watchdogs like this we will all go to hell without a whimper. Paul Connett 1) 'Fluoridation case is blown out of water by dental data'By Jon Reeve, Daily Echo, October 29, 2009
BLOWN out of the water.That is what campaigners fighting plans to add fluoride to Hampshire water supplies say new dental health figures have done to health bosses' justification for the scheme.A survey of five-year-olds across England has found Southampton children suffer barely any more tooth decay than the national average.The research found the number of five-year-olds in the city who have had problems with their teeth has fallen dramatically, as has the average number of diseased teeth.With Southampton's poor record on youngsters' dental health given as one of the main reasons it is necessary to fluoridate the water supplies of nearly 200,000 residents, opponents now say there is no reason to go ahead with the scheme.But health chiefs last night said changes in the way the statistics were collected mean they cannot be accurately compared with previous surveys.And bosses at South Central Strategic Health Authority vowed to carry on with work to introduce fluoridation in parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Totton, Netley and Rownhams, possibly before the end of next year.The survey shows 31 per cent of all city five-year-olds have experienced tooth decay, which is a 26 per cent drop on the figures from 2005/6, and only slightly worse than the England average of 30.9 per cent. The average number of teeth every youngster in Southampton has decayed, missing or filled on average has also been cut by 35 per cent to 1.13, while across the country the figure is 1.11.Both figures show there is less tooth decay than recorded at any time this decade, and are better than the results from Birmingham, which has been fluoridated since the 1960s.Hampshire Against Fluoridation member Dr Stephen Peckham, a reader in health policy at the Department of Public Health and Policy, said: "It blows a hole in what they have consistently said that Southampton has some of the worst teeth in the country - that's patently not true, and probably never was."It will completely change the economic analysis and I think the whole thing is so shaky that the noble thing to do would probably be to accept they were wrong in the first place."Southampton is about average for England, and you would expect it to have higher rates of decay because of deprivation, so the city's actually doing quite well."(The PCT) has been telling us they've been doing all these things, and maybe they're working after all, so they should be congratulated."It would save the SHA and the public purse a lot of money and allow us to focus on targeting children most in need and think about ways the service could be improved."City health bosses last night said an important change in the way children were surveyed mean the statistics cannot be fairly compared with previous results.Southampton's public health director, Dr Andrew Mortimore, said the newly-introduced need for parental permission, rather than. assumed consent, meant a third of youngsters invited into the survey were not examined, and they were likely to be those with the worst dental health,"The Centre for Public Health, which published these figures, has publicly stated when releasing these latest results that the positive consent now required for the survey means that 'bias resulting from non-response cannot be ruled out' and that 'direct comparisons with previous surveys should not be made'," he said.Dr Mortimore added Southampton's figures are still above national averages and can be improved."Alongside good dental access in the city, NHS Southampton City will continue its extensive oral health promotion programmes and continues to fully support water fluoridation as a safe and effective method of reducing tooth decay and dental inequalities," he said.But Southampton and Romsey MP Sandra Gidley, who has campaigned against fluoridation, urged the SHA to reverse its decision in light of the findings."The people of Southampton would welcome such a move and it would do a lot to restore faith in the board," she said."After all, their justification for fluoridation has just gone down the plug hole."What next?AFTER health bosses gave the plans the green light in February, South Central Strategic Health Authority has been working to make fluoridation a reality, while campaigners have been doing their best to stop it.The authority has been in talks with Southern Water about how the scheme would work practically, and how much it would cost. Original estimates suggested it would take around £470,000, with that bill being picked up by the Department of Health, but SHA bosses admitted that figure could ultimately "double or triple".Once the infrastructure is in place, NHS Southampton City will then pay the estimated £60,500 yearly running costs out of its annual £9.5m dental health budget.The SHA had hoped to see the first fluoride added to the water sometime during 2010, but a judicial review into the decision making process could scupper that.Southampton resident Geraldine Milner has lodged a legal challenge on two bases, which the SHA has set aside £400,000 to fight.Her arguments the SHA should have taken more account of public opinion have been accepted and will be the subject of a judicial review hearing, probably next year.But the High Court judge refused to accept her claim the SHA failed to properly look at all the evidence submitted during the consultation.That decision has itself been challenged, and an appeal will be heard at London's Royal Courts of Justice before Christmas.There have also been calls, backed by the Daily Echo, for residents to be given a referendum on the issue because the majority voice was ignored on the issue.Health chiefs push ahead with fluorideHEALTH bosses last night remained adamant that fluoridation is necessary for Hampshire. A spokeswoman for South Central Strategic Health Authority insisted it is still committed to the scheme, despite the improved dental health figures in Southampton."We are pleased that children in the South Central region have, on average, better dental health than many other places in England. However, the regional data does hide significant pockets of poor dental health in some of the big towns and cities in our region."She said tooth decay was entirely preventable and they were committed to giving children the best chance with a range of programmes to combat the disease. __________________________________________________________________________________ 2) Southampton City Council's vote on fluoride 'would be different' By Jon Reeve, This is Hampshire, October 30, 2009
A TOP Southampton councillor has today said the city council would never have backed fluoridation if it had known children's dental health had improved.Deputy leader Cllr Royston Smith said new survey results, which show the city's five-year-olds suffer the same amount of tooth decay as those across England, have dramatically weakened the case for fluoridation.The survey found tooth decay among Southampton children at a ten-year low, as reported in yesterday's Daily Echo.The city council's backing for the plan - affecting nearly 200,000 residents - in last year's public consultation was seen as key to those in favour of the scheme.Every other local authority - Hampshire, Eastleigh, New Forest and Test Valley councils - opposed the proposals.Cllr Smith said: "The council was probably the most important consultee, and whatever we said or did was going to be taken very seriously."Every councillor had a free vote in November, and they backed fluoridation 26 to 18.The report for the meeting claimed the city's dental health was deteriorating and worse than regional and national averages.Cllr Smith said the latest figures showing Southampton has lower levels of tooth decay than fluoridated Birmingham, are another nail in the coffin for the case for adding fluoride to the water."The main thrust was the poor state of dental health in Southampton, and that's now shown not to be the case," he said. "That, combined with the overwhelming public opposition and will of the people should be enough for the SHA to rethink their plans and abandon them."South Central Strategic Health Authority has said it remains committed to fluoridation. (our emphasis, PC)

Daily Echo

SOUTHAMPTON: Fluoride row
'Old tooth rot data decider in city vote'
By Jon Reeve
jon. reeve ©dailyecho.co. uk For up-to-the-minute news and information - dailyecho.co.uk
A TOP Southampton councillor has today said the city council would never have backed fluoridation if it had known children's dental health had improved.


Headlines only as ediitor asked I respect their copyright.

Daily Echo - Editor's comment

• FLUORIDE-supporting health bosses reacting to the latest national dental care figures that show Southampton on a par with the national average fall back on the fact the way the statistics were gathered has changed to say we shouldn't make much of the perceived local improvement.
Fair enough. But the new figures do level the field and show Southampton's child dental care is better even than Birmingham where they've had fluoride in water for decades.
Give it up lads. Either give the city a referendum or go away. Few want it, few need it, and fewer than ever believe you. .

Lymington Times letter

Fluoridation
SIR, — I welcome the interest shown by Peter Sopowski (letters October 24th) in suggesting a way forward to settle the fluoride controversy.
I want the strategic health authority to withdraw plans to mass medicate the population by adding the fluoride to our tap water. I also agree and have made the point several times that taxpayers' money could much better be spent working with children and parents, making sure that they attend to dental health.
The children's centres are doing a great job in this respect but would dearly love extra resources to do an even better job. It would be so much better to provide front-line services to prevent tooth decay than to squander our money on trying to impose something that the public don't want and most of us don't even
need.
I'm sorry to remind Mr Sopowski, that the answer lies in the hands of our Labour government. They have given the powers to the strategic health authority to impose their wishes on us all. Perhaps he too could press upon the likes of John Denham MP to step in. If he, as a cabinet member can't do it — who
can?
Coun. David Harrison
Leader,
New Forest .District Liberal
Democrats,
Rushington Avenue,
Totton.

FLUORIDATION JUSTIFICATION GOES DOWN THE PLUG HOLE - GIDLEY

FLUORIDATION JUSTIFICATION GOES DOWN THE PLUG HOLE - GIDLEY
12.00.00am GMT Wed 28th Oct 2009

Commenting today on the publication of new figures which reveal that the number of five year olds in Southampton with dental decay has fallen by over 25% since 2005, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Minister and City MP, Sandra Gidley, said:

"The high decay rate for five year olds in 2003 and 2005 was the key reason that the Health Authority introduced water fluoridation.

"But these figures suggest that rates of dental decay in Southampton are decreasing in line with other parts of the country - and rates are now lower than they were at the start of the decade.

"I urge the South Central Health Authority to reverse their decision in the light of these figures. The people of Southampton would welcome such a move and it would do a lot to restore faith in the board. After all, their justification for fluoridation has just gone down the plug hole."

Daily Echo - Free council vote on fluoridation

Free council vote on fluoridation
THE letter from Mr J H Pain (October 24) oh fluoridation was very misleading.
The 'Conservative' city council did not vote in favour.
The city council held a 'free' vote, no 'whipping', and some of the members from all parties voted in favour and some of the members from all parties voted against. If Mr Pain
insists on politicising a non-political issue may I remind him that the city council was merely a consultee and that the decision was made by the unelected Strategic Health Authority under the Labour Government.
COUNCILLOR ALEC SAMUELS, leader of Southampton City Council.

Daily Echo - In my view

There is a solution...
IN my view and that of many in the Labour party in New Forest East is that the fluoride debate has gone on for long enough and a solution must be found that is acceptable to the majority.
Firstly I want to congratulate Julian Lewis MP, Cllr David Harrison and others involved, on their efforts to seek a review of the Strategic Health Authority decision.
The SHA has ploughed ahead, paying little regard to the overwhelming lack of support for fluoride to be added to the water supply, which is unnecessary mass medication, leaving many people very concerned. The SHA has clearly not won the argument and the support of the people it is supposed to care for, on this matter.
I would like to propose a solution which is cost effective and would suit all parties, including the SHA, which does not require the imposition of fluoride on people in Totton and Southampton against the will of the majority.
Why will the SHA not work with Hampshire and Southampton councils in education and children's services, to provide education on dental care, as already happens at children's centres and Sure Starts, and rapidly expand the programme to every setting where children (and parents) attend?
The most obvious step is to provide dental care and monitoring in our nurseries and schools. There is no need for a nurse in every school, but a programme of regular visits where education, monitoring and distribution of dental care products can occur.
A programme of dental care education visits and monitoring would be welcomed by teachers and most parents. In secondary schools there are health visitors educating pupils on contraception, smoking, drugs and other health matters,, alongside mass immunisation programmes 'such as BCG inoculations and more recently inoculation against cervical cancer. Why cannot the SHA spend its resources on enough dental health professionals to educate our children (and some parents) from the earliest years.
The above approach would be less expensive and a more sustainable way for the future, than pouring money down the drain, for fluoridation equipment, equipment maintenance and monitoring, fluoride supplies and of course legal advice to try to force this plan through.
There is always the danger of the overdosing of the water supply, which would be a disaster for all, whereas if pupils and parents, just will not learn from dental education, freely provided, then all they will individually suffer is bad teeth, instead of everybody being fluoridated from cradle to grave.
Dental health education is the responsibility of the SHA and parents. Any parent not wishing to have fluoride for their children's teeth, need only avoid giving fluoridated tap water for drinking and fluoridated toothpaste to their children.
Surely, active targeted education on dental care allows the children to make a choice about looking after their teeth, and in time their own children's teeth, even if a few parents could not care less.
Many congratulations to all who have scrutinised and questioned the SHA's unpopular proposal and I hope you can support the education alternative proposed.
We do not need expensive legal hearings, using NHS funds. What Is needed is an agreed way forward for our children's dental health.
Come on SHA consider the alternative proposal as set out above.

Daily Echo - In my view

Decline of our democracy
By Chris Barker
THE decline of democracy needs to be stopped.
Have you noticed how the UK is slipping into becoming an ever more authoritarian state instead of the democracy that our forefathers fought and died to protect? ,
Even today our young men and women are in far off places fighting to protect democracy. However, here at home, more and more decisions are being made, by both elected and unelected officials, who are abusing that position by doing what they want, irrespective of the views of local people.
So-called "consultations" turn out to be nothing more than sham exercises to fool the people into I thinking that their views carry some weight. However, the outcome has usually been decided long before the "consultation" takes place, thus proving the "consultation" to be nothing more than a cosmetic exercise. Southampton recently had a "consultation" about fluoridation. Over 72 per cent of the respondents said they did not want fluoride added to their water supply.
In defiance of the result, the unelected area health authority members decided to add fluoride anyway, against the wishes of the majority. These same people are now preparing to waste vast sums of our (taxpayers) money on defending that decision in court. What a shame that money does not come directly out of their wages, they might think twice about wasting it then.
We can only hope the court decides that it is against the public interest to allow this undemocratic decision to stand.
These people have said that this 72 per cent was unrepresentative of the total population of the area. Using that same argument you could say that no MP has really been elected, because you could argue the same about the results of a genera! election, where the number of people who actually vote is always less than 100 per cent of the population.
In our area both Itchen and Test MPs (both of whom support fluoridation) were actually elected by less than 30 per cent of the total population eligible to vote, and they were both happy to accept this result as being valid.
There is a petition on the number 10 Downing Street website at peti-tions.number10.gov.uk/Democracy Hants which is aimed at making the majority result of public consultations the overriding factor in any subsequent decision. It is aimed at taking the power to overrule the people away from elected and unelected officials.
Please read the petition and sign up to it if you wish to stop the decline in our democracy and send a message to all those in positions of power that they are there to serve us, the people, and our interests, not themselves or their own ambitions. i
This is not about fluoride or any other single issue. I have merely used the fluoride "consultation" as one example of the blatant disregard these officials now have for your democratic rights.
The petition is about basic democracy in this country, not only being done but being seen to be done.

Daily Echo - Fluoridated water's food for thought.....

Fluoridated water's food for thought.....
I WAS interested to read the letter from Steve Whitfield (Echo October 17) about the European Court judgement that fluoridated water is a functional food , which means that anything made with fluoridated water cannot be legally exported to EU countries.
Having booked to go on a cruise from Newcastle, ( a fluoridated area) to Amsterdam, recently, and having heard that fluoridated water was in fact illegal in the Netherlands, I contacted Northumbrian Water before boarding the ship. I was assured that the water piped on to the cruise ship would not be fluoridated. This has of course made me wonder what would happen to our cruise ship business in Southampton should our city be fluoridated.
The other point of interest here is that a certain EU country is almost wholely fluoridated. That country is Ireland. Recently, the Irish Republic reduced the amount of fluoride they add to the water because of problems with fluorosis. But the really relevant point about the Irish case is that a recent study by a senior dental surgeon in the HSE has shown that tooth decay among Ireland's children is worse than their UK counterparts. (The UK is only 10 per cent fluoridated).
Which makes the government's stupid claims about children in fluoridated areas having better teeth than those in unfluoridated areas - they usually pick Newcastle and Manchester for their most unscientific comparisons - look even more stupid.
SUE ROBSON, Southampton.

Daily Echo - letter

Against political beliefs?
REGARDING the letter from A WILLOTT 'Show Courage of Convictions' (Letters, October 20), whilst I agree with him that we should not be inflicted with adulteration of our water supplies, his letter would be better balanced if he included criticism of our Conservative Council who voted in favour of the proposal and gave encouragement to the project. Or is that against his political beliefs? J H PAIN, Southampton.

Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment,

Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment,
9, Upper Mount Street , Dublin 2 Ireland
Phone +353 1 642 5741 - www.voiceireland.org
PRESS RELEASE
Dublin
23rd October 2009
American dentists again warn of fluoride risks to bottle-fed babies.
Two years after first warning parents not to use fluoridated tap water to make up infant formula, the Journal of American Dental Association has again highlighted in its October 2009 edition, the resulting risks of dental fluorosis to bottle-fed babies*. Here in fluoridated Ireland dental fluorosis now affects every third child, a 700% increase since 1984.
“With some 30,000 new-borns this year being bottle-fed” said VOICE spokesman Robert Pocock “ this repeat warning exposes the negligence of the Irish Dental Association (IDA) which has issued no advice on this risk even though in March 2008, we appealed directly to them to do so. Tens of thousands of Irish parents have been failed by the IDA as well as an out-of-touch health minister who still forces this chemical into the taps of most homes in the country. Boiling the water from the tap does not reduce the fluorosis risk.”
Since the Department of Health first responded to concerns about fluoridation in 2000and set up the Fluoridation Forum, consisting of most of the same people who have uncritically promoted fluoridation for years, almost 200,000 bottle-fed babies have been victims of this official negligence. The chances are that over 50,000 of them will develop dental fluorosis, a permanent condition for which there is no cure only expensive and repeat treatment.
Only last Wednesday (21st October 2009) Dr Joe Mullen Principal Dental Surgeon of the North West Health Board, and an active member of the Fluoridation Forum told RTE Radio's Mooney Show that the risk of dental fluorosis begins up to the age of two.
The fluoride concentration(0.7ppm) in Irish tap-water is almost two hundred times more than in mothers milk yet a minority of the seventy thousand new-borns in Ireland this year are exclusively breast-fed.
“This is one of the public health service’s greatest health scandals, with parents simply being left in the dark about the fluorosis risk to babies that the government’s own research has repeatedly demonstrated “ added the VOICE spokesman.

Lymington Times

Health minister attacks fluoride 'scare stories'
75,000 residents signed petition against 'forced medication
A HEALTH minister has attacked fluoride "scare stories" as 8,000 Totton residents await the outcome of a legal battle over adding: it to their water supply.
Mike O'Brien answered a challenge by New Forest East MP Julian Lewis in the House of Commons by urging people to make judgements "based on the evidence".
Totton was included in an area of about 190,000 people around Southampton who are set to have fluoride next year under an NHS initiative. It is being fought in the courts, however, by objectors who fear its side-effects and resent "forced
medication".
Dr Lewis is on the side of the anti-fluoride campaign which collected a 15,000-name petition against the plan. He told Mr O'Brien: "The minister has nailed his colours to the mast in favour of fluoridation.
"Does he accept the principle that no community should have its water fluoridated if a majority of the members of the community do not wish its water to be fluoridated?"
The minister pointed out the dangers of medical "scare stories" and said: "We need to make judgements on fluoridation based on the evidence.
"Stories always go round that can frighten people, and we have seen in this country a whole series of scare stories about vaccinations that resulted in a significant number of people being frightened out of giving those vaccinations to their children.
"As far as vaccination was concerned, there were some stories and as a result we are paying the price."
The plan from Southampton Primary Care Trust was approved by the South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) in February as a way of targeting tooth decay among young children.
A Mori poll it carried out showed
38% opposed against 32% in support. Opponents fear fluoride has effects ranging from cancer to mottling of teeth, known as fluorosis — which is the only side-effect acknowledged as proven by the SHA.
As reported in the 'A&T, Conservative shadow health minister Mike Penning said public support for fluoride under a Tory government would be "vital" before it could be implemented.
However, the scheme depends on a High Court action which has secured a judicial review of the SHA's decision. A judgement is expected next year.

Fluoridation
SIR, — My personal view and that of many in the Labour Party in New Forest East is that the fluoride debate has gone on for long enough and a solution needs to be found that is acceptable to the majority. Firstly I want to congratulate Julian Lewis MP, Cln. David Harrison and others involved, on their efforts to seek a review of this decision.
The health authority has ploughed ahead, paying little regard to the overwhelming lack of support for fluoride to be added to the water supply, which is unnecessary mass medication, leaving many people very concerned. The health authority has clearly not won the argument and the support of the people it is supposed to care for, on this matter.
I would like to propose a solution which is cost effective and would suit all parties, including the health authority which does not require the imposition of fluoride on people in Totton, and Southampton, against the will of the majority.
Why will the health authority not work with Hampshire and Southampton councils in education and children's
services to provide education on dental care, as already happens at children's centres and Sure Starts, and rapidly expand the programme to every setting where parents and children attend?
The most obvious step is to provide dental care and monitoring in our nurseries and schools. There is no need for a nurse in every school, but a programme of regular visits where education, monitoring and distribution of dental care products can occur. A programme of dental care education visits and monitoring would be welcomed by teachers and most parents. In secondary schools there are health visitors educating pupils on contraception, smoking, drugs and other health matters, alongside mass immunisation programmes such as BCG inoculations and more recently inoculation against cervical cancer.
Why cannot the health authority spend its resources on enough dental health professionals to educate our children (and some parents) from the earliest years?
The above approach would be less expensive and a more sustainable way for the future, than pouring money down the drain, for fluoridation equipment, equipment maintenance and monitoring, fluoride supplies and of course legal advice to try to force this plan through.
There is always the danger of the overdosing of the water supply, which would be a disaster for all whereas if pupils and parents just will not learn from dental education freely provided, then all they .will individually suffer is bad teeth, instead of everybody being fluoridated from cradle to grave!
Dental health education is the responsibility of the health authority and parents. Any parent not wishing to have fluoride for their children's teeth, need only avoid giving fluoridated tap water for drinking and fluoridated tooth paste to their children.
Surely, active targeted education on dental care allows the children to make a choice about looking after their teeth, and in time their own children's teeth, even if a few parents could not care less.
Many congratulation to all who have scrutinised and questioned the health authority's unpopular proposal and I hope you can support the education alternative proposed.
We do not need expensive legal hearings, using NHS funds. What is needed is an agreed way forward for our children's dental health!
Peter Sopowski
Chair — New Forest East Labour Party

Very sensible view

Toddlers across Wales to be taught how to clean their teeth

Toddlers across Wales to be taught how to clean their teeth
Oct 23 2009 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail
CHILDREN and toddlers under three in Wales will be taught how to brush their teeth.
The Welsh Assembly Government will today announce extra funding to extend its flagship oral health scheme to the youngest children.
They will also be given free toothbrushes and toothpaste to take home with them in a bid to improve Wales’ shocking oral health.
More than half of children in Wales have tooth decay, although the problem is highest in areas of deprivation, such as the former South Wales coalfield.
And dentists have said there are children in Wales who have “never seen a toothbrush”.
Health Minister Edwina Hart, who will launch the extended scheme today in Swansea, said: “The rates of tooth decay in parts of Wales are too high and need to be tackled.
“This additional funding for the Designed to Smile scheme will carry on and enhance the good work done in the pilot areas and extend it across the whole of Wales.
“There is a significant role for parents to play, but we know that for many children at greatest risk of dental decay, cleaning their teeth or having their teeth cleaned does not form part of their daily routine.
“It is clear that more direct and also more innovative methods of delivering preventive care are necessary if advances in child oral health are to be made.
“By teaching children the importance of good oral health at an early age, they will develop good habits they will carry on into adulthood.”
Children under three who attend nurseries in parts of North and South Wales – the original super pilot areas – will now be taught about tooth brushing in a bid to make it part of their regular daily routine.
They will also be given free toothbrushes and toothpaste.
The existing scheme for three to five-year-olds will also be extended to other Communities First areas in Wales and, in the super pilot areas, to six and seven- year-olds.
Assembly Government funding for Designed to Smile will rise to £3.1m this year and to more than £3.8m in 2010-11.
A joint statement by Dr Hugh Bennett, a consultant in dental public health, and Claire Thompson, acting senior health promotion specialist at the National Public Health Service for Wales, said: “Evidence shows that tooth brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste reduces the risk of this preventable disease.
“This boost to Designed to Smile is an invaluable opportunity to encourage parents and children to maintain good dental health habits.
“Steps such as healthy eating and drinking are just as important as brushing teeth and visiting the dentist, and the Designed to Smile team will work with both children and parents to explain how these simple measures can reduce the unnecessary pain and suffering caused by dental decay.”
Stuart Geddes, director of the British Dental Association in Wales, said: “In principle this is great and I’m glad to see the Assembly Government is putting money into it.
“This is about good practice and also getting the tooth-brushing message into the family; hopefully it will get the message across to mums so it can be taken back.
“One episode of oral health education is not going to work unless it is taken back home.”
Mr Geddes added: “This is a help but what I’d like to see is a really comprehensive oral hygiene programme rolled out to school children until they are 16.
“While I appreciate that is beyond the costs of providing this scheme, the benefits would, in the long-term, save money for the NHS because we would get subsequent reductions in treatment.”

Daily Echo - folly in folic acid story

folly in folic acid story
I HAVE watched the debate on fluoridation of water with some interest although not overly concerned of possible detrimental effects. However it seems that our Granny state is likely to legislate for all bread, and flour, to contain folic acid. Folic acid is known to be of benefit to certain groups of people but when it was introduced into bread in North America in 1998 the rate of bowel cancer abruptly increased where
before it had been slowly declining.
The scientific advisory committee on-nutrition claims that the increased cancer rate could he due to improved screening, despite the previous decline. It seems to me that another government department may be spinning statistics to its own advantage and this is one food supplement on which I will definitely be taking a concerned interest.
ALAN KEBBELL, Southampton.

Daily Echo - Silence on the cola ads

Silence on the cola ads
SOUTHAMPTON City Council used to be ever so concerned about children's teeth.
Dental health was so important that a small majority of councillors supported the fluoridation of water supplies on this basis alone, putting aside concerns on the effects of fluoride elsewhere in the body.
Upon receipt of an offer by Coca-Cola to pay for the recycling bins the council should be buying themselves, concern for children's teeth seems to have gone put of the window, as the company has been allowed to advertise their sugar and chemical-packed drinks all over town.
Coca-Cola consists of water, sugar and several artificial flavourings and sweeteners. A typical can of coke contains about 45g of refined sugar, which is already more than the maximum recommended daily allowance. The sugar-free varieties still have the sweeteners, which are subject to ongoing debates on their effects.
For the past few years, campaigners in the Green Party and Hampshire Against Fluoridation have been fighting the plans of the Strategic Health Authority to add hexafluorisilic acid to local water supplies. They have argued that there are better ways to improve dental health than to force fluoridated water on a captive population, such as providing better education and public information on dental health.
The council and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) responded that it was "too difficult to change people's behaviour". By allowing Coca-Cola to advertise all over the city, they have ensured that this is true. Maybe this is their idea of joined-up thinking: promote cola, which will cause tooth decay, thereby justifying the need for fluoridation.
I find it incredible that the PCT and local dentists are silent on this issue. They were not short of time, money or energy when it came to promoting fluoride -the PCT spent a vast amount of public money on a one sided door-to-door leaflet campaign, whilst dentists claimed to be heartbroken over how many teeth they'd drilled out. Their silence on the Coca-Cola advertising leads me to doubt their sincerity, their honesty and their integrity.
We will only improve children's dental health when we reduce their intake of sugary snacks and drinks. To achieve this, we need to reduce both the advertising and availability of such products and replace them with healthy alternatives.

Stroud public gears up to oppose fluoridation

Stroud public gears up to oppose fluoridation
1:00pm Wednesday 21st October 2009
Stroud public gears up to oppose fluoridation A straw poll of local opinion, taken on the streets of Stroud in advance of the AGM of the Stroud and District Safe Water Campaign earlier this month (October) found 90 totally opposed to the threatened introduction of mass medication caused by the addition of fluoride to the total water supply in Gloucestershire… and just one in favour.

Chairman Rob Mehta reported that the threat (buried in the water bill and now enshrined in law) was getting geographically closer to the county. Recently. the National Health Service South West, the relevant official body for Bristol, had been charged by the government with conducting a 'feasibility study' about adding the relevant chemical (fluorosilic acid) to the city's water supply.

He pointed out that with the resulting establishment of Bristolians Against Fluoridation and a fledgling organisation in Bath - also under imminent threat of this mass medication - there is now a network of opposition voluntary groups in the south and west of England.

The speaker at the AGM, Stephen Peckham of Hampshire Against Fluoridation, which included Southampton, reported on their success in showing that in every measure of consultation (a statutory process for the health authority) there over 70 per cent of residents voted ‘No'. Stephen, a Health Service researcher now at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, recalled how shocked the group was when, despite this clear showing of public opposition, the Strategic Health Authority announced it was going ahead anyway.

He also stressed how, despite government claims, up to date research had demolished their case that fluoridation reduced tooth decay in young children. (Scientists have found it simply delays - not reduces - it and in a significant percentage it causes the tooth disfigurement called 'fluorosis' which needs repeated and expensive treatment.) The Hampshire group have complained to the Ombudsman, he explained, on the grounds that the SHA cannot be said to have mounted a legally defined consultation (as guaranteed in the act.) They have also supported a local resident who succeeded in getting legal aid and won a judicial review which ruled there had been a lack of consultation by the SHA. That resident is also appealing a decision refusing a judicial review into the lack of official evidence produced for fluoridation.

Members of the Stroud and District Safe Water Campaign, which covers Gloucestershire, agreed to continue making grants to the Southampton organisation. "We believe the success on the streets and in the courts means the government has had to put a large part of their national push for fluoridation on hold," asserted committee member Lynne Edmunds. "It is also trying to wriggle out of a European court ruling which our Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has to comply with, which states fluoride is a medical product and so has to go through many stringent legal safety hoops - not a 'food' as this government ridiculously claims."

UK - One third of five years olds have tooth decay

One third of five years olds have tooth decay
Almost one third of five-year-olds in England have decayed, filled or missing teeth, official figures have revealed.
A survey of 140,000 state schoolchildren found 31 per cent were already showing obvious signs of tooth decay.
The study was conducted by the new NHS Dental Epidemiology Programme but may be an underestimate of the problem as parents were asked to provide specific consent for their child's teeth to be examined and so those with the worst dental health may have opted out, the authors warned.
Previous studies have suggested as many as 60 per cent of five-year-olds have some level of dental decay although improvements have been made in recent years.
The children who had tooth decay had on average between three and four teeth which were either filled, extracted or were showing obvious signs of damage.
Levels of tooth decay varied around the country with the highest levels in the North East where 40 per cent of five-year-olds had damaged teeth compared with under a quarter in the South East Coast region.
Sue Gregory, Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England, said: "We are pleased to see that most five-year-olds don't suffer the effects of obvious tooth decay, and by the age of twelve our children's teeth are among the healthiest in Europe.
"We need to sustain and improve on this position. Dental decay is preventable and we need to focus on programmes which will ensure that in future all young children benefit from good oral health.
"Brushing for Life already gives free toothbrushes, fluoride toothpaste and advice to children in areas where tooth decay is a problem, and we are advising dentists to give all children over the age of three applications of fluoride varnish every six months to protect their teeth."

Ireland - A “bio-monitoring” programme to measure fluoride levels

Health

–Expansion of colorectal screening and cervical vaccination programmes “at the earliest opportunity, in accordance with clinical priorities”

–Improvement in income eligibility limits for medical cards for children with intellectual disabilities

– A “bio-monitoring” programme to measure fluoride levels in the general population

–Increased research and development in the health sector

Daily Echo letters

Attributes that won't make me laugh...
I WOULD like to thank Brenda Knopf (Letters October 5) very much for showing me the errors of my way in thinking Gordon Brown was a treacherous rotter.
Dp you know I was convinced that he was giving us all these goodies because he was spending money he didn't have in order to bankrupt us! I was sure he had ignored prudent fiscal policies, sold off our gold when the prices were rock bottom, and ignored banks' dirty dealings because they were cash cows and because he was selling us out to the EU. I was positive he would have known that the EU had put pressure on the US to drop the safety nets which had been introduced in 1978 to stop greedy banks. What a soppy silly for thinking that was what caused the Credit Crunch. I am sorry also for believing that the reason why he is hanging on, shored up by Peter Mandelson is to make sure the Lisbon . Treaty is ratified by all the 27 countries before the next election. What a fool I have been to believe these policies were to ensure Tony Blair becomes the First President of Europe.
I am ashamed of myself for thinking Mr Brown lied to us when he reneged on giving us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. And I am absolutely distraught when I consider that I was thinking he had shifted responsibility to the SHA because he wanted to poison us with fluoride without taking the flak. I must while I am about it apologise to Mr Denham and Mr Whitehead for thinking they were secretly trying to implement this without making themselves unpopular with the electorate by playing'a two-handed game. Perhaps 1 am being sceptical when I think that the two politicians in favour of this poisoning are both Labour MPs. Pardon me Brenda Knopf perhaps I and many others have been a bit , hard on Gordon and maybe you can enlighten us on his better attributes that is, if you can find any that won't make me laugh!
S E IRELAND, Southampton.

Untold damage and our public opinion
I SEE that the Southampton Local Involvement Network are offering a free buffet to members of the public who register and turn up at the Novotel Hotel on Thursday October 22 so that they can be consulted about the future provision of health and social services in the city
I really hope that the event is a success. Unfortunately, the long dark shadow that rests over any such consultation is the feeling that
this is just a process, that any views expressed will not make a difference. In going against public opinion on the issue of fluoride in tap water, the Strategic Health Authority have caused untold damage to any future consultation about health. The, sooner this unelected body realises the damage they have caused; the better,
Councijlor DAVID HARRISON, Leader, New Forest District Liberal Democrats.

Show courage of convictions
IT would appear that our two MPs A Whitehead and J Denham have finally emerged from the woodwork, obviously realising they cannot sit on the fence forever.
They no doubt realise that the public outcry against adding fluoride to our water supply is not going to go away.
After all one must consider there are thousands of angry citizens who no doubt feel let down by both of these two so called representatives of the people. The few words in their short letters in the Echo's Your Views column have been non committal. Still following the party line, presided over
by their leader Gordon Brown who on the one hand said 'let the people decide', but now has failed to practise what he preached. I'm sure the quangos of the SHA could have been told enough is enough (after all Mr Brown & Co were responsible for setting them up in the first place, 'Time now for the tidy bin'. A leader who has the courage of his convictions is a man to be admired and to hell with the consequences. Any volunteers?
Or are you both prepared to see the waste of more NHS money squandered on an appeal against democracy. A WILLOTT, Southampton.

Daily Echo - SHA should change its mind

SHA should change its mind
RICHARD GRANT "Just seeing the way the wind blows" (Letters, October 13), accuses Conservative Julian Lewis of waiting to see how things pan out before deciding on policies.
He writes that surely the whole fluoridation campaign initially was led by the experienced local councillor and Liberal Democrat David Harrison. Not wishing to belittle either of the two men who have worked unstintingly on our behalf but it was John Spottiswoode of the Green Party who first proposed a new group to fight the PCT's fluoridation agenda. Non-political, Hampshire Against Fluoridation was inaugurated on Monday February 18, 2008.
I would add that Julian Lewis has for many years opposed fluoridation long before the latest attempt by the NHS to foist it on us. I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on the National Park issue but I do not see that to change one's mind is a bad thing. I only wish the Strategic Health Authority would.
BILL EDMUNDS, Hampshire Against Fluoride member.

Daily Echo Letters

ANTI FLUORIDE campaigners have been give fresh hope after the scheme to fluoridate Hampshire water supplies was raised in Parliament, the Daily Echo reported.
It comes just a week after another Tory minister said a Conservative Government would ensure residents have a say in fluoridation schemes.
Shadow health minister Andrew Lansley challenged the Government to give the people a vote on the controversial plans, saying the public consultation had been a waste of time and money.
Mr Lansley's comments were
welcomed by the chairman of Hampshire Against Fluoridation, John Spottiswoode, who is standing for the Greens against John Denham at the next election.
Below are just some of the comments from the Daily Echo website:
Linesman, Fareham says...
I wonder how many of these protesters, who object to fluoride in the water, buy sweets and fizzy drinks for their kids.
Someone claimed that the MMR vaccination of kiddies caused autism, and rather than accept the opinion of their doctors and health officials, they put their children at risk by refusing the jab, as some of those children that did not receive the jab, paid the price. Adding fluoride to water in other areas has proved to reduce decay in teeth, and no deaths have been attributed to its introduction.
So the Tories, if they form a Government, say that people will be given a vote on it! They also Say that the NHS is safe in their hands, despite the slagging off it was given by one of their spokesmen in the US!
It is called 'electioneering'!
Pam W, Southampton says...
Linesman said: "Adding fluoride to water in other areas has proved to reduce decay in teeth."
Actually the latest research, published in the July 2009 Journal of the American Dental Association, suggests there is no reduction at all.
Until politicians recognise the facts and stop regurgitating useless and distorted old statistics, they'll continue to delude themselves.
goard, Southampton says...
Fluoride is a poisonous substance. It may be absolutely the best thing happening to us since steak and kidney pies - but in this country we were endoctrinated into the belief that we had a choice - obviously 72 per cent obviously did not think it was for them - it's called freedom of choice and it is this that most of us are railing against - we ain't getting FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
Linesman, Fareham says...
So fluoride is a poisonous substance! Salt is the combination of two poisonous substances, but I bet that you have salt with your meals!
Alcohol is a killer when taken in excess, but not in moderation, similarly asprin which can kill if taken in excess but is prescribed to help with some heart conditions.
There is always some group, with little or no knowledge of a subject, that think they know better than the experts!
jwillie6, Lafayette, LA, USA says...
This whole problem seems so simple to cure. Fluoride tablets are legal. If you want them, take them. Meanwhile do not put this toxic poison in the water system and force everyone to take it.
Fluoridation is a hoax and a waste of money, but worse, it is dangerous to health.
I suggest anyone doubting the dangers of fluoridation go read : "50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation" by Dr Paul Connett at { http://www. fluoridealert.org/). Included are 190 research studies which support each of the 50 reasons.
Also this site shows 23 research studies from around the world which shows that fluoride lowers the IQ in children.
Check the articles on the five-fold increase in bone cancer in young males caused by fluoride. How many deaths are we ready to sacrifice in order to absorb the toxic waste fluoride of the big chemical companies and their cohorts.

daily Echo - EU export ban on fluoridated water

EU export ban on fluoridated water
FLUORIDATED water must be treated as a medicine and cannot be used to prepare foods! That is the decision of the European Court of Justice in a case dealing with the classification and regulation of "functional drinks" in member states of the European Community. The Court stated that even if a functional food product (or a food containing it) is legally marketed as a food in one member state it cannot be exported to any other member state unless it has a medicinal licence.
So any company making a consumable product using fluoridated water in its preparation or as an ingredient cannot export that product to any other state in the EC. Not only does the ruling ban the use of fluoridated water for all retail catering and wholesale food processing in the UK it also prohibits such trade to other member states .
The decision effectively bans all processed food products from countries such as the USA and Australia unless they can prove that it has been prepared using only water that was not fluoridated. But we are still expected to . drink this?
(Source: Nexus magazine. UK Councils against Fluoridation, May 10, 2009)
STEVE WHITFIELD, Hedge End.

If it is true why isn't the law enforced.

Ireland - Obvious reason for tooth decay

Obvious reason for tooth decay
Friday October 16 2009
Tooth decay is higher and more severe among Irish children than their UK counterparts. According to Dr Carmel Parnell, researcher and a senior dental surgeon in the HSE, more than 20pc of eight-year-olds, 50pc of 12-year-olds and 75pc of 15-year-olds have experienced decay in their permanent teeth. Oddly but blatantly, her remarks made no reference whatever to fluoridation. About 70pc of Irish water contains the industrial waste product known disingenuously as fluoride "to protect our teeth" but only 10pc of UK water is now fluoridated.

Yet another "health" con trick has now been thoroughly exposed. Yet again, big business wins and people lose.

Dick Barton
Co Wicklow

Lymington Times

Fiuoridation
SIR, — Having been utterly opposed to the fluoridation of Totton's water supply — as I trust your readers know — I was grateful for the front page coverage ('A&T', October 10th) concerning the letter on this subject from Conservative shadow health minister Mike Penning MP.
This makes it absolutely clear that there will be no fluoridation here (or indeed anywhere else) under a Conservative government unless the community is in favour of it. The whole process will be looked at and revised to prevent public opinion being overridden in the way the Strategic Health Authority tried to do.
Although this can be seen from the story, I am concerned that the headlines may mislead some readers. "Public support 'vital' for fluoridation, say Tories" could be read as implying Conservative support for such mass medication. A preferable headline would have been along the lines of "No fluoridation without public consent" — because that is what Mike Penning's letter was all about.
I shall continue to work on a cross-party basis to make sure fluoridation is not imposed upon us against our will—and that is why the commitment given by the Conservative shadow health minister is so welcome and so important.
Julian Lewis MP
3, The Parade,
Cadnam.

Daily Echo - HAMPSHIRE: Fluoride issue raised in parliament

HAMPSHIRE: Fluoride issue raised in parliament
Fresh hope for a referendum
By Andy Tate & Jon Reeve
newsdesk @ dailyecho.co. uk For up-to-the-minute news and information - dallyecho.co.uk
CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans to fluoridate Hampshire water supplies have been given fresh hope after calls for a referendum were raised in Parliament.
Shadow health minister Andrew Lansley challenged the Government to give the people a vote on the controversial plans, saying the public consultation had been a waste of time and money
It comes just a week after another Tory minister said a Conservative Government would ensure residents have a say in fluoridation schemes.
During a Parliamentary debate Mr Lansley said:" There was such a process in Southampton and Hampshire, but it began with the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) setting out the evidence in support of fluoridation, and it ended with the SHA saying that it remained convinced by the same evidence.
"What is the point of consultation when a decision has been made already?"
More than 10,000 people responded to South Central SHA's consultation, with 72 per cent of those living in the affected area, covering parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Totton Netley and Rownhams, opposing fluoridation.
In a separate phone poll of 2,000 residents, 32 per cent supported the scheme, compared to 38 per cent against it.
The SHA argues it is the role of Parliament to decide the rules, which it must then follow, and it met or exceeded all the requirements of it under the existing legislation.
Rejecting calls for a referendum Health Minister Mike O'Brien insisted the SHA's only obligation was to ^ take the views "on board". "Those views are important, and the people who make decisions must consider them and give them due weight, but they are not binding in the way that a referendum would be," he said. Mr Lansley's comments were last night welcomed by the chairman of. Hampshire Against Fluoridation, John Spottiswoode, who is standing for the Greens against John Denham at the next election.

Yesterday in Parliament

Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; North Warwickshire, Labour) If we really want to deal with the issues associated with child tooth decay, we will find that the better way to do so is to ensure that we have fluoridated water supplies and that we make changes in the way in which dental health is examined to ensure that we target those in the most deprived areas for the additional help and support that they need. We are examining ways in which we can identify and put help into areas where there are the most problems...............
Sir Paul Beresford: I am pleased that the Minister has finally got round to mentioning fluoride, because fluoridation in the water supply and in toothpaste has been the biggest single factor, over and above any dentistry, that has brought about the change that he is proclaiming as an asset to his Government. He ought to realise that countries that have a school dental service ..........................
Dr. Lewis: The Minister has nailed his colours to the mast in favour of fluoridation. Does he accept the principle that no community should have its water fluoridated if a majority of the members of the community do not wish its water to be fluoridated?
Mr. O'Brien: We need to make judgments on fluoridation based on the evidence. Stories always go round that can frighten people, and we have seen in this country a whole series of scare stories about vaccinations that resulted in a significant number of people being frightened out of giving those vaccinations to their children. We need to ensure that we consider the evidence, that we base our judgments on the clinical evidence and that we ensure, too—

Mr. Lansley: Will the Minister give way on that point?

Mr. O'Brien: Let me answer the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis), and then I will give way. As far as vaccination was concerned, there were some stories and as a result we are paying the price. We need to ensure that we consider the evidence on fluoridation and make judgments based on that evidence. We have already seen that there have been some moves towards fluoridation in the water supply, particularly in Southampton, although that is the subject of a judicial examination...............

Mr. Lansley: The Minister will know, not least from what my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) said, that there are Conservative Members who agree with the principle of fluoridation. However, the point is not that we should judge the evidence that suggests that it makes a positive contribution, but that the legislation makes it clear that there should
14 Oct 2009 : Column 381
be a process of public consultation. There was such a process in Southampton and Hampshire, but it began with the strategic health authority setting out the evidence in support of fluoridation and it ended with the SHA saying that it remained convinced by the same evidence.

The consultation process therefore added nothing at all: what is the point of consultation when a decision has been made already? The Minister and the health authorities need to think about that again and accept that, if evidence is to be presented in a public consultation process, people must be given a more objective opportunity—either through a referendum or some other means—to make their views known.

Mr. O'Brien: The difference between the hon. Gentleman and me on this is not as great as he makes out. I agree that the people who make decisions must take on board the views expressed by local people in the public consultation process. The process is not a referendum—

Mr. Lansley: It should be.

Mr. O'Brien: By the sound of it, the hon. Gentleman is committing the Conservative Front-Bench team to referendums all over the country. I believe that, when local people are consulted, those who make decisions need to take on board the views that are expressed—and, indeed, the votes that are taken—by people in local areas. Those views are important, and the people who make decisions must consider them and give them due weight, but they are not binding in the way that a referendum would be.

Dr. Julian Lewis: Will the Minister give way again?

Mr. O'Brien: I will, but this really is the last time.

Dr. Lewis: The Minister is very kind to give way again, but 72 per cent. of respondents to the consultation said no to fluoridation, even though the local PCT had sent out a great many postcards, first-class postage paid, to get people to say yes when they replied. Presumably, if 72 per cent. of people saying no can be ignored, the same would be true of 82, 92 or even 100 per cent. What is the meaning of a consultation when an SHA can tell the overwhelming proportion of people saying no that the answer is nevertheless yes?

Mr. O'Brien: People who have to make a decision have to give due weight to the views of local people. They must ensure that all the arguments are taken into account, and that the views of local people are reflected but, in the end, they still have to make the decision.

I should have known, when I mentioned fluoridation, that we would get the reaction that we did from the reactionary side of the House. Fluoridation is an issue that, like Europe, produces an immediate reaction.

Mr. Lansley: We should have a referendum on it.

Mr. O'Brien: The Conservatives are proposing referendums once again. They want one on Europe, and now they seem committed to one on fluoridation as well. The important point is that we are working with the dentistry profession. There were difficulties following the 2006 contract—I do not dispute that for a moment—but we are now working with the dentistry profession to ensure that we produce a system of NHS dentistry that is right for England and the whole UK.......................

Charlotte Atkins (Staffordshire, Moorlands) (Lab): The Opposition motion proposes the reintroduction of school dental screening programmes. I agree with the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) and the Minister that that is just window dressing. Those programmes have been proved to be ineffective, which is why they were stopped. If the Opposition are really interested in increasing preventive care, improving children’s dental health and reducing dental health inequalities, they should be proposing to increase investment in Sure Start and similar initiatives and pushing the fluoridation of water supplies. Sure Start brings together health, education and social services to help pressurise mothers with children under four. It is the perfect vehicle to promote good, early oral hygiene alongside good access to NHS dentists. Fluoridation of water in Birmingham has provided huge benefits to children, compared with unfluoridated Manchester. The figures are very clear on the benefit of fluoridation.

Fluoride toothpaste has also made a significant difference, and I commend my local PCT, NHS North Staffordshire, for its work to promote good dental health. I have joined it in wet and windy supermarket car parks and in town centres where its representatives have engaged with shoppers on oral health issues. It also attended my recent health MOT days, which are events that I have organised to promote public health, and I am grateful to NHS North Staffordshire for having the forward thinking to provide the health professionals who carried out health checks, such as on blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. We had an amazing response. During the two MOTs that I organised, more than 800 people turned up, and the dental health team played an important role at the events. I put on the record my thanks to PCT chief executive Tony Bruce, to Lesley Goodburn and to all the health professionals, including health visitors and district nurses, who worked so hard to make those events such a success.

Professor Connett and the 2,657 Medical, Scientific, and Environmental Professionals Calling for End to Fluoridation Worldwide must stop these scare stories

United States is experiencing an astounding third of a million hip fracture fatalities yearly

According to Centers for Disease Control publications (Stevens, Inj Prev. 2006 Oct;12(5):290), the United States is experiencing an astounding third of a million hip fracture fatalities yearly in citizens, where bones don't heal during convalescence, which itself also costs billions. The Irish Osteoporosis Society reports similar data (fluoridealert.org). And yet both these countries continue the mistaken practice of treating people with diluted hazardous waste fluosilicic acid in public water supplies.

CDC's Oral Health Division officials are mostly from and influenced by the American Dental Association, which also maintains permanent Washington offices spending millions yearly lobbying Congress (http://www2.fluoridealert.org/Alert/United-States/National/Health-Care-Players-American-Dental-Association).

OHD claims fluosilicic acid in drinking water is harmless to man and animals (even high-volume-drinking racehorses), though it enters the blood and sticks permanently to bone, accumulating over a lifetime (National Research Council, 2006). There are no controlled clinical trials to back up OHD's beliefs, and no one's measuring bone fluoride levels in either human hip fracture or racehorse leg bone fatalities to see whether fluoride is responsible, or contributing to the problems.

OHD does much harm to our nation's rivers and water supplies. Please write to it and Mayor Jerry Sanders, who accepted $5 million to fluoridate San Diego in May.

Richard Sauerheber

San Marcos

Daily Echo - It's a dangerous precedent to set.

ONE political leader (David Cameron) is calling for less "Big Government" and more emphasis on the individual.
People are becoming afraid to offer any help unless the state gives them permission.
One place to begin would be to stop the prime example of Nanny State interference where the authorities add the chemical fluoride to tap water supplies. This is not added to make the water safe to drink, but to bring about changes in the human body-a dangerous precedent. One size does not fit all, as some people may react badly to this chemical. No sensible doctor would prescribe medication for a patient he's never met, whose medical history he doesn't know, in a dosage over which there is no control.
The countries with the biggest drop in child tooth decay are Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Denmark - who do not fluoridate.
The only time many politicians are interested in the public's view is just before an election, so now is a good time to tell them that we don't want compulsory mass medication against our will.
A WILLS, Ruislip

Daily Echo - Fluoride an 'abuse of human rights'

Fluoride an 'abuse of human rights'
FOLLOWING on from Tory health chiefs' statements on fluoridation (Daily Echo, October 5), it is concerning that there appears to be no opposition to the actual policy, only to how it is implemented.
The fundamental principle at the heart of the issue is being ignored. Enforced medication without INDIVIDUAL consent is illegal.
Fluoride through tap water is mass medication by the state, and an abuse of our most basic human rights.
A referendum may bring us the result we want locally, but it is still a violation of this principle, and we should be very clear on that point.
While we all welcome the possibility of a referendum and a "fairer" consultation process, these election promises ignore the medical ethics and illegality of fluoridation, and would not prevent it from happening.
Implementation would simply be more difficult. This could result in the pro fluoride lobby redoubling their efforts across the UK, spending more public money, spinning more shockingly biased propaganda, and threatening communities across the whole country.
What all political parties should be doing is promising unequivocally, that they will remove the Fluoridation and Indemnity Clauses from the Water Bill. That is the only permanent, nationwide solution. . Everything else is fudge.
Jennifer Johnson,
Clarford, Nr Andover.

Safe Water Campaign of Gloucestershire

By Philip Booth
Today was the Safe Water Campaign of Gloucestershire's AGM and over 20 people came to hear Stephen Peckham from 'Hampshire Against Fluoridation' talk at The School of Art and Science, Lansdown..................

UK - So pleased with Court Leet decision - Daily Echo

So pleased with Court Leet decision
WITH respect to the fluoridation debate, it is obvious that the likes of Kevin McNamara and Olga Senior of the SHA attach great importance to the telephone survey, the 22 page report of the key findings being published shortly before the SHA made their decision.
Apart from the fact that I think there are a lot of dangers associated with telephone surveys, I think there are a couple of important issues raised by the survey.
1) From my knowledge of statistics I would question whether the sample is a
totally random one even if they think it is more representative. To ensure randomness stratified sampling is usually more effective than quota sampling.
2) There is no mention of how the issue of non-response is dealt with. This is an important issue in a lot of surveys
In the fluoride debate the SHA and the Southampton City Primary Care Trust both place a lot of emphasis on scientific arguments when discussing fluoridation, and certainly the design of a statistical sur-
vey is a science in itself. I certainly feel that despite the fact that the report uses plenty of diagrams to illustrate the conclusions that it comes to, that it asks more questions than it answers. I wonder whether the SHA board members asked any questions about the viability, or did they accept it at face value.
I am pleased with the result of the Court Leet, and hope that Southampton City Council carefully reconsider their decision.
MALCOLM CLARKE, Eastleigh.

Ireland - 27% of three-year-olds have tooth decay

27% of three-year-olds have tooth decay
Friday, 9 October 2009 13:18
More than 20% of eight-year-olds, 50% of 12-year-olds and 75% of 15-year-olds have experienced decay in their permanent teeth.
Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood and the level of tooth decay is higher among Irish children than their UK counterparts, according to a leading researcher on oral health.

Dr Carmel Parnell, researcher and a senior dental surgeon in the HSE, revealed the figures at the Annual Seminar of the Public Dental Surgeons Group this week in Wexford.

Dr Parnell also said that the severity of decay being experienced by Irish children was also of concern.

'A substantial proportion of children at five, 12 and 15 years of age have experienced decay in five teeth or more', she said.

Dr Parnell said that while there was no national data on the oral health of preschool children, the local surveys that had been undertaken provided grounds for concern.

She cited the most recent survey of preschool children, which found that 27% of three-year-olds had decay.

Dr Parnell also said that the prevalence and severity of decay in teeth was significantly higher among disadvantaged children.

While oral health advice on diet and tooth brushing has been incorporated into some existing parenting information, this is not the case throughout the country, Dr Parnell added.
Good dietary habits, which include limiting the amount of sweet foods and drinks, need to be promoted for good general as well as oral health.

The only dental-specific dietary advice for very small children is never to put sweet drinks, including juice, into a bottle and never let a child sleep or nap with a bottle or feeding cup.

More generally Dr Parnell said that oral health education should be incorporated into the Social and Personal Health Education program of the school curriculum and children who are felt to be at high risk of tooth decay should have fissure sealants applied and maintained in vulnerable teeth.

Comment from R.Pocock Dublin

1. Higher prevalence of decay in Irish children (70% fluoridated) than in UK children (10% fluoridated).

2. This report is remarkable for there being no mention of fluoridation and its claimed protective effects for all ages, so the question it raises is "why have so many children in Ireland got worse/more dental decay than UK children?"

3. While there are no quoted figures permitting international comparisons of DMFT or dmft (for milk teeth) nevertheless it is clear that for disadvantaged children, fluoridation has failed them. So much for the unsupported claim by the SCSHA consultation which claimed that fluoridation in Hampshire would 'lessen health inequalities' in oral health, a claim previously soundly refuted by the UK NHS York Review(2000).

4. Main new dental-specific dietary suggestion is not to put sweet drinks in baby bottles ...wow! besides the push fo sealants(fluoride of course) to high risk children ie pretty well all children.

5. The Irish fluoride devotees will no doubt downplay this with their usual 'additive benefit' of fluoride delivery via drinking water --- for which there is no good supporting evidence, as the rest of Europe and many Irish dentists know.

This report is attributed to a leading researcher in oral health here and while no scientifically valid evidence is produced by this press story, it is certainly a welcome change from the fluoridation-driven propaganda which usually passes for 'oral health research' here. Prof Vyvyan Howard has described Ireland as the most fluoridated country in the world and we have a level of dental fluorosis in children (37%) to back this up.

Robert

Daily Echo - Sponsor offer not the real thing for children's teeth

Sponsor offer not the real thing for children's teeth
THE council used to be ever so concerned about children's teeth.
Dental health was so important that they supported the fluoridation of water supplies on this basis alone, putting aside fears on what fluoride might do elsewhere in the body
Upon receipt of an offer by Coca-Cola to pay for the recycling bins the council should be paying for themselves, concern for children's teeth seems to have gone out of the window, as Coca-Cola have been allowed to advertise their sugar and chemical-packed drinks all over town.
Why have the Primary Care Trust and local dentists remained silent on this?
CHRIS BLUEMEL, Southampton.

Lymington Times - Public support 'vital' for fluoridation, say Tories

Public support 'vital' for fluoridation, say Tories
PUBLIC support for adding fluoride to the drinking water of 8,000 people in Totton would be "vital" under a Conservative government, according to the party's shadow health minister.
The high-profile commitment — made as the next general election gets closer was extracted by fellow Tory New Forest East MP Julian Lewis who wrote asking for the party to make clear its position.
Southampton Primary Care Trust's scheme will affect 190,000 people in and around the city if it goes ahead as planned next year after it was approved in February by the South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) to combat child tooth decay.
Opponents said their concerns about fluoride's side-effects were ignored, despite gathering a 15,000-name petition objecting and a Mori poll by the SHA showing 38% opposed against 32% in support.
Shadow health minister Mike Penning wrote to Dr Lewis: "I believe that public consent is vital to the implementation of any compulsory fluoridation scheme. "Communities should have to give their approval for any proposal before it is permitted to go ahead, and that fluoridation should not be enforced against the will of the population."
He said there were "serious questions" about the SHA's consultation, particularly the way it handled views opposing the plans, and he promised a Tory government would review the process to involve the public more.
Dr Lewis said: "I am naturally delighted at this excellent response which I take to mean that if there is a change of government fluoridation will not be imposed in our area without our consent.
"This is, of course, what Gordon Brown promised on his visit to Southampton — but, in Mike Pennine's case, we can be sure the promise will be kept."
The SHA's decision is also being fought in the courts, and a judicial review launched by Southampton resident Geraldine Milner to scrutinise its legality is set to have its next hearing on October 23rd.
Her lawyers, Leigh Day and Co, argued fluoridation should not have been approved because it was at odds with pronouncements from members of the government that such schemes should only be allowed if a local majority was in favour.
She also said opponents' arguments were not properly considered, but the judge hearing the case decided that only the legality of the decision would be investigated — which is the ruling to be challenged later this month.
Depending on the result, the judicial review could be heard as early as next year with a decision in the spring.

Daily Echo - Time to give power back to the people

Time to give power back to the people
JOHN Denham MP used to be a councillor. You would therefore expect him to understand the importance of the role. We are not important in our own right, but as representatives of the people, crucial to a functioning democracy.
These days, John is a very senior figure in politics, a member of the Cabinet, Secretary of State for i Communities.
He has been touring the country, telling people he is interested in strengthening local democracy. To be fair, he probably inherited a consultation paper he is promoting called Strengthening Local Democracy. It's therefore unfortunate that his rhetoric, praising the role of local government, isn't matched by proposals in the document that will sort out the problems.
Local government is heavily dependent on central government for finance. Without a significant reform, such as scrapping council tax and replacing it with a local income tax, the powers of a local council to offer any real choice to voters over the range and quality of services it delivers will remain severely limited.
I hate to bang on too much about the fluoride in drinking water debate but it provides a perfect example of how Government has transferred powers away from locally elected councillors like myself and permitted a quango, the Strategic Health Authority, to decide the issue.
There are other areas where I have found that I, as an elected local councillor, am unable to prevent things happening. Traffic Commissioners, based in Bristol and Leeds, make decisions about the issuing of HGV licences in this area. Major planning applications that would not be right for this area are rejected by locally elected council members, but then given the go ahead by central government appointed people.
The principles in the paper are sadly lacking. A local authority should be concerned with leading and shaping a community, looking after the well-being of the people it serves. The present Government has had a very good innings but has failed to deliver the sort of radical change that is needed to strengthen local democracy.
Relations between local government and central government have always been somewhat strained. After all, we ail want the power to change things for the better.
Wouldn't it be good if we could break the old two party stranglehold on Westminster and vote in a reforming government that is really serious about giving power back to the people?

Daily Echo - Fluoridation issue seen as Tory election winner

Fluoridation issue seen as Tory election winner
The Tories are hoping the furore over plans to fluoridate the water supply in South Hampshire will convince voters to back them at the next general election.
Julian Lewis, Conservative MP for New Forest East, named fluoridation as a key local issue that he believed would attract people to the Tories, following a pledge by shadow health minister Mike Penning that a Conservative government would review the way consultations are carried out to ensure such processes were not "enforced against the will of a population".
Dr Lewis, who' said he had been battling with Government over the controversial public health measure for some time, said: "People do not wish to have this imposed on them, and under the , Conservatives if people don't t say yes it won't happen."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has repeated the I Government's support for the principle of fluoridation - but suggested it was a matter for health trusts and residents to determine locally.

Daily Echo - Practise what you preach...

Practise what you preach...
ONE of the questions on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? on Friday evening concerned Living Wills and their legal effect with regard to the delicate issue of self-determined suicides.
The members of the panel included journalist Matthew Parris and the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham.
Parris who took first stab at answering the question stated quite emphatically: "You can't treat somebody against their will." It would have been a golden opportunity for another of the panel members, Eric Pickles for example, to have rounded on Andy Burnham, reminding him that he, of all people, was doing just that in pressing ahead with water fluoridation -mass medication par excellence.
Treating countless numbers of 'somebodys' against their individual right not to be treated en masse; and doing it regard less of validated evidence of its downside effects; of majority public opinion and the outcome of any public consultations, has besmirched any notion of Burnham being seen as an ethical or honest health broker.
Being as he has no medical or other scientific qualifications, it begs the question as to why he was appointed to that Cabinet position at all unless it was specifically to steamroller this act of public betrayal in the interests of what used to be called Labour Party Democracy
Bernard J Seward, Member Hampshire Against Fluoridation