The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord
Warner):
The School of Dental Sciences at the University of Newcastle has today
announced the results of a study comparing the bioavailability (absorption) of
fluoride in water in which fluoride occurs naturally with artificially
fluoridated water. The report of the study, copies of which have been placed in
the Library, shows that the researchers found no evidence for any differences between the
absorption of fluoride ingested in artificially fluoridated drinking water and
in drinking-water in which the fluoride is present naturally at fluoride
concentrations close to 1 part per millions. Nor did they find any evidence for
difference between the absorption of fluoride from hard and soft waters at
these fluoride concentrations.
These findings provide further
reassurance of the safety of fluoridated water. All water contains some
fluoride and about half a million people in a area stretching from Hartlepool
in the North East to Essex receive naturally fluoridated water at
concentrations close to the 1 part per million level at which water is
artificially fluoridated. No health effects, other than enhanced resistance to
tooth decay, have been detected in residents of these naturally fluoridated
areas.
In the report Water Fluoridation and Health, published in
September 2002, the Medical Research Council made the investigation of the
bio-availability of fluoride their first priority for further research. With
the favourable outcome of this study the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Dental
Officer have been able to complete their advice on the implications of the MRC
report for policy on fluoridation.
The advice confirms that government should continue to support research to strengthen the evidence base on the benefits to oral health and safety of fluoridation. In this connection CMO/CDO recommend that the research community is consulted about
·
developing a scientifically robust design for
evaluation of potential new fluoridation schemes under the Water Act 2003;
·
investigating cancer rates in relation to
fluoride in water;
·
other research projects that would contribute
to the evidence base – eg dental fluorosis, adult dental health, impact of
water fluoridation on quality of life; and economic impact; and
·
monitoring fluoride exposure using data already
collected as part of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and future such
surveys to be used to monitor fluoride exposure.
Further research on fluoridation would need to be considered against
other priority calls on the Department’s R&D budget.
The favourable outcome to the research on bio-availability has also
enabled us to take decisions on the management of research information on
fluoridation. The Department already funds the National Primary Care Research
and Development Centre at Manchester University. The Oral Health Unit, which
has been established within the Centre, will be responsible for maintaining a
national information base on research studies on fluoridation taking account of
the report of the Systematic Review of Water Fluoridation carried out by York
University. The unit is associated with the Cochrane Oral Health Centre which
is also sited at the University of Manchester.