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Written question asked by Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Thornton (Labour) on Monday, 20 April 2009.

Fluoridation

Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the recent decision by South Central Strategic Health Authority to fluoridate the water supplies in some areas of Southampton and Hampshire, against the wishes of 72 per cent of those who responded to public consultation and 38 per cent out of the 70 per cent who expressed any opinion in the telephone survey, is consistent with the statement by Lord Warner during the debate on the Water Fluoridation (Consultation) (England) Regulations 2005: "let me dispel any suggestion, however, that we have diluted our commitment that fluoridation schemes would only be introduced where the local population were in favour" (8 March 2005, HL Deb, col. 706).
Answer

The telephone survey conducted on behalf of South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) found 32 per cent of respondents in support, 38 per cent opposed and 19 per cent neither in support nor opposed. 23 per cent of respondents thought that fluoride was already added to their drinking water, while 69 per cent of respondents had little or no knowledge of fluoridation. Under Regulation 5 of the Water Fluoridation (Consultation) (England) Regulations 2005, SHAs are required to take account of the cogency of the arguments made during a consultation. In this context, South Central SHA sought an independent review of claims made during the consultation that fluoridation reduced the intelligence quotient (IQ) of children. The review concluded that "the lack of a thorough consideration of confounding as a source of bias means that, from these studies alone, it is uncertain how far fluoride is responsible for any impairment in intellectual development seen. The amount of naturally occurring fluoride in drinking water and from other sources and the socioeconomic characteristics in the areas studied is different from the UK and so these studies do not have direct application to the local population of Southampton". The report of the review, entitled Independent Critical Appraisal of Selected Studies Reporting an Association between Fluoride in Drinking Water and IQ, is available at www.southcentral.nhs.uk/fluoridation/page.php?area id=9996&id=6. A copy has also been placed in the Library.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
2706; 709 c337WA
Session
2008-09
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP2009-1098
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Deposited papers
House of Lords
Fluoridation
Monday, 18 May 2009
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects
Drinking water Public consultation Southampton Hampshire Fluoride South Central Strategic Health Authority
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk