Asked by Earl Baldwin of Bewdley

Asked by Earl Baldwin of Bewdley

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 15 November (WA 156), (a) in which sections of the York report, A Systematic Review of Water Fluoridation, can the conclusion that areas of past concern about water fluoridation no longer require investigation be found, and (b) why the National Fluoride Information Centre placed this claim within the Is it safe? section of their website if it intended to refer to past concern about fluoridation's health effectiveness. [HL4557]

7 Dec 2010 : Column WA35

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): The extract from the York report to which I referred in my earlier reply was from "Section 12. Conclusions". Although York found no clear association between fluoridation and cancer or bone fractures, we are not complacent. This is why the department is committed to a programme of further research to strengthen the evidence base on fluoridation. I agree that the layout of the website could be improved and officials will be exploring with the National Fluoride Information Centre how this can best be done.

To strengthen the evidence not to examine the evidence - that tells you something.