§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the advice given by the World Health Organisation on the addition of fluoride to the water supply. [107728]
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§ Yvette CooperRecommendation 7 on page 35 of the World Health Organisation Technical Report Series 846 "Fluorides and Oral Health: Report of a WHO Expert Committee on Oral Health Status and Fluoride Use" (1994) is that
Community water fluoridation is safe and cost-effective and should be introduced and maintained wherever it is socially acceptable and feasible. The optimum water fluoride concentration will normally be within the range 0.5–1.0 mg/l.We will have regard to the World Health Organisation's views in developing policy in this area following the results of the review of fluoridation being undertaken by the University of York.
§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the proportion of ingested fluoride that is retained in the body of a healthy adult. [107612]
§ Yvette CooperThe Department has not undertaken any such assessment. One recent review (United States National Research Council "Health effects of ingested fluoride" 1993) noted that
Approximately 75–90 per cent. of the fluoride ingested each day is absorbed from the alimentary tract. Of the fluoride absorbed by the young or middle-aged adult each day, approximately 50 per cent. will be associated with calcified tissues within 24 hours and the remainder will be excreted in urine".
§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence he has received on the relationship between incidence of Down's syndrome and the fluoridation of water. [107611]
§ Yvette CooperThe independent expert advisory Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment considered fluoride in 1987, 1990 and 1995 and advised that
there is sufficient evidence from the available data to conclude that the consumption of fluoridated water would not constitute a mutagenic hazard to man through the induction of heritable abnormalities in the germ cells.This implies that there is no biological basis for suspecting any relationship between fluoridation and the incidence of Down's syndrome. Epidemiological studies by Rapaport in the 1950s claimed to have shown an association, but were flawed and not supported by later epidemiological studies by others. An evaluation of the epidemiological studies will form part of the expert scientific review of fluoride and health in progress at the National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York.