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UK Against Fluoridation

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Wales - Campaigners get teeth into e-petitions

Campaigners get teeth into e-petitions
Apr 19 2008 by Madeleine Brindley,
Western Mail
THE first petition marking a new electronic way of lobbying the Assembly Government will urge the administration not to add fluoride to drinking water.Anti-fluoride campaigner John Warman’s petition is the first to feature on the National Assembly’s e-petitions website, which was launched this week.
It comes as there is evidence of growing support in some quarters for water fluoridation as a means of addressing Wales’ appalling dental health. The nation, and particularly the South Wales Valleys, has some of the highest levels of five-year-olds with tooth decay.
But Mr Warman, a Neath Port Talbot councillor and founder of the Campaign Against Fluoridation, said he hopes the petition will show the Assembly Government that Wales does not want this form of “mass medication”.
He said: “This is compulsory medication and we do not need it. Instead we need more money spent on education and manufacturers to reduce the amount of sugar in their products, which is causing decay in children’s teeth at such an early age.
“People should have the choice about fluoride in the same way they are able to make choices about other aspects of their health. I know that I am going to get a lot of support for this petition as people are very uncomfortable about this issue. Fluoride is a poison and we do not want it in our water supply.”
The British Dental Association (BDA) in Wales is now considering launching its own petition in support of fluoridation in response.
Stuart Geddes, the BDA’s director, said: “I’m disappointed about this petition and hope that it is not supported by the public.”
Fluoride was last added to the water supply in Wales 17 years ago and many believe that it holds the key to reversing Wales’ poor oral health. After water fluoridation was stopped in 1991 in Anglesey, tooth decay rose by 68%.
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.
In Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil children have, on average, four decayed, missing or filled teeth by the time they are five. It is fewer than two in areas such as Ceredigion and Monmouthshire.
It is understood that the Welsh Assembly Government has no current plans to fluoridate water supplies in Wales.
A spokesman said: “We acknowledge that, in view of the poor dental health in Wales, the introduction of water fluoridation has the potential to deliver significant health gains and address health inequalities. We are sensitive to the fact that there are some groups opposed to fluoridation.”
The Assembly Government last month launched a £4.6m oral action plan which will include teaching three-year-old children how to brush their teeth.
A scheme to give children free toothbrushes and fluoride toothpaste is also being considered.
Only 11 homes in Wales currently receive fluoridated drinking water. These homes are in the Elan Valley and receive their water from the same source as that supplying the West Midlands, which is fluoridated.
Nick Bourne, the Welsh Conservatives’ leader of the opposition, who uncovered this fluoridation anomaly, said: “I am against compulsory fluoridation as the benefits it may have for teeth are offset by other detrimental problems.”
But Lesley Griffiths, AM for Wrexham, who has previously called for a National Assembly debate on the matter, which could see AMs voting on whether Wales should restart water fluoridation, said: “I believe the scientific case has been made and fluoridation is one important tool that can be used in the prevention of tooth decay among children.”
E-petitions – which are available to read and sign online at www.assemblywales.org/get home/e-petitions – are a way of asking the National Assembly to consider any issue, problem or proposal that it has the power to do something about.
The Assembly’s rules mean that any petition that the Presiding Officer decides is admissible must be considered.

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