UK - Daily Echo - Fluoridated water's food for thought

Fluoridated water's food for thought.....
I WAS interested to read the letter from Steve Whitfield (Echo October 17) about the European Court judgement that fluoridated water is a functional food , which means that anything made with fluoridated water cannot be legally exported to EU countries.
Having booked to go on a cruise from Newcastle, ( a fluoridated area) to Amsterdam, recently, and having heard that fluoridated water was in fact illegal in the Netherlands, I contacted Northumbrian Water before boarding the ship. I was assured that the water piped on to the cruise ship would not be fluoridated. This has of course made me wonder what would happen to our cruise ship business in Southampton should our city be fluoridated.
The other point of interest here is that a certain EU country is almost wholely fluoridated. That country is Ireland. Recently, the Irish Republic reduced the amount of fluoride they add to the water because of problems with fluorosis. But the really relevant point about the Irish case is that a recent study by a senior dental surgeon in the HSE has shown that tooth decay among Ireland's children is worse than their UK counterparts. (The UK is only 10 per cent fluoridated).
Which makes the government's stupid claims about children in fluoridated areas having better teeth than those in unfluoridated areas - they usually pick Newcastle and Manchester for their most unscientific comparisons - look even more stupid.
SUE ROBSON, Southampton.