§ Earl Baldwin of Bewdleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by the Lord Warner on 7 September (WA 137) and 3 November (WA 38), why they did not reply more fully to Written Questions HL3802, HL4226 and HL4227 (Session 2003–04); and why, in particular, they made no reference to the caution expressed by the authors about the results of the Newcastle study into the bioavailability of artificially and naturally fluoridated water; and whether they will now give the information requested. [HL238]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)The study 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, or between the absorption of fluoride from hard and soft waters, at fluoride concentrations close to one part per million.
The study's findings are consistent with predictions from physical chemistry and existing knowledge on the absorption of fluoride. It provides further evidence that there is no major difference in the absorption of naturally occurring fluoride and that of fluoride from artificially fluoridated drinking water.