§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in view of the resolution on fluoridation passed by the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organisation in July 1969, what steps he has taken, or will be taking, to determine people's total fluoride intake from water and all other sources.
§ Sir K. JosephMeasurements of the fluoride content of food and water were undertaken immediately prior to the Government's decision to approve arrangements made by local health authorities for the fluoridation of public water supplies. Subsequently further investigations were made into people's fluoride intake from the atmosphere.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state how the daily requirement of fluorine in milligrams per kilogram weight of the human body, which has been established as essential for good health, can be controlled when public water supplies are artificially fluoridated.
§ Sir K. JosephThe daily requirement of fluoride for the preservation of good health is established by studies of the fluoride content of food and drinking water and epidemiological studies covering the whole range of variations in intake. These studies show that the fluoride intake from food and drink, when water supplies are fluoridated to a level of one part fluoride per million parts of water, provides the optimum dental benefit while at the same time preserving a satisfactory margin of safety. The level of fluoride in water thus treated can be readily checked, and all fluoridation schemes include arrangements for this checking to be done as often as is thought to be necessary.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will bring up to date for the last complete year for which figures are available the statistics given in table 7 on page 29 of the booklet published by the Department of Health and Social Security "The Fluoridation 30W Studies in the United Kingdom and the Results Achieved after Eleven Years"
§ Sir K. JosephDental examinations have continued in Watford and Sutton but the later statistics are not yet available.