Daily Echo - Activists will contest the seats of fluoridation supporters

SOUTHAMPTON: Activists will contest the seats of fluoridation supporters
'Oust those who backed fluoride'
By Jon Reeve
jon.reeve@daily echo.co.uk
ANTI-fluoridation activists have launched a campaign to stop politicians who
backed the Hampshire scheme being re-elected.
They want to see anyone who supported plans to add the chemical to the tap
water supplies of nearly 200,000 residents in and around Southampton booted
out of office.
The No F in Southampton campaign encourages voters to support only
candidates who are fighting the scheme in this year's local and
Parliamentary elections. It is the brainchild of the Green Party, whose
candidate for John Denham's Southampton Itchen seat is John Spottiswoode,
chairman of Hampshire Against Fluoridation, which has led the battle to stop
health chiefs adding fluoride to the water.
"We need to get rid of all those F politicians who voted for fluoridation,"
said Mr Spottiswoode.
"We need people to vote only for candidates who will commit themselves to
stopping water fluoridation in Southampton."
The plans to add fluoride to water delivered to homes in two-thirds of
Southampton and parts of Eastleigh, Totton, Netley and Rownhams, are
currently the subject of a judicial review.
The high court is later this year expected to consider a complaint that
South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) should not have voted
unanimously in favour of the scheme last February because of public
opposition.
More than 10,000 people responded to the SHA's public consultation, with
nearly three-quarters of those living in the area to be fluoridated saying
they were against the project. In a separate phone poll, 38 per cent opposed
fluoridation compared to 32 per cent who backed it. Southampton City Council
held a free vote on the plans, which saw a majority of councillors back
fluoridation. Their colleagues at Hampshire County, New Forest District,
Eastleigh Borough and Test Valley Borough councils all opposed the scheme.
New Forest Bast MP Julian Lewis, Romsey and Southampton North's Sandra
Gidley, and Chris Huhne, who represents Eastleigh, have all supported
campaigners fighting fluoridation. Mr Denham and Southampton Test MP Alan
Whitehead both say they agree with the principle of adding fluoride to water
supplies, but have called for the scheme to be put on hold in the face of
public opposition.