5:51pm UK, Thursday February 26, 2009
Health chiefs have agreed the controversial move of adding fluoride to the water supply of 195,000 people in Southampton and and South Hampshire.
Five million Brits have drunk water with added fluoride for several decades
Southampton Primary Care Trust argues it is the only way to reduce tooth decay in children across the city.
But campaigners fear fluoride could have health risks, saying adding it to tap water amounts to mass medication.
Five million people in England and Wales have been drinking water with added fluoride for several decades.
But other water companies refused to add the chemical until its safety had been resolved.
Now the Department of Health is putting pressure on the NHS to use powers under the Water Act 2003 to demand water companies add the chemical.
Dentist Ragini Ramchandani
In Southampton, four in every 10 children have a filling by the time they start school.
Dentist Ragini Ramchandani says some parents fail to brush their children's teeth properly. Not even giving out free toothpaste has helped.
She said: "Dental health has improved in Southampton over the last 40 years. A lot of that is due to fluoridated toothpaste.
"But what has not improved is the inequalities between people with good and poor dental health. That gap has not closed at all."
But independent experts at York University have concluded there is only limited evidence that adding fluoride to water reduces decay.
Mother of two, Jo-Anne CareyNobody knows what it can do. So I say err on the side of caution and don't put it in the water.
And it warns any benefit comes at the cost of increasing the number of children developing mottled teeth from consuming too much fluoride.
The uncertain scientific evidence has led to an angry debate between those for and against fluoride.
Jo-Anne Carey ensures her two children brush their teeth properly twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste.
She doesn't want an additional - and unregulated - dose in the tap water.
"What is this toxin going to do in the body for the next 40 years? It's cumulative. It sits in the tissue and grows.
"Nobody knows what it can do. So I say err on the side of caution and don't put it in the water."
The decision on whether to give Southampton Primary Care Trust was taken by the regional health authority.
Water companies are under pressure
Campaigners claim the public consultation has been a sham and that NHS South Central bowed to pressure from the Department of Health.
But chief executive Jim Easton insists the decision was taken based on the evidence.
"Let me be very clear. We have received no direct or indirect pressure from the Department of Health, ministers or senior officials to make a decision one way or the other."
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