Letter: Something in the water

Sir: In calling for a change in the law ("Suppliers call for fluoride in water", 24 December), Water UK will be virtually guaranteeing nation- wide fluoridation as health authorities have decided in favour of fluoridation when their consultation processes have shown overwhelming public opposition to it.

Since it is not Water UK's place to make water consumers ill, perhaps their chief executive will tell us how the water companies will cater for the needs of those of us whose health is adversely affected by fluoride and who, therefore, have to avoid fluoridated water and foods manufactured with it (as well, of course, as avoiding items naturally high in fluoride such as tea, fish and fluoride toothpastes).

After all, we too pay for a potable water supply, safe to drink and bathe in. I have not yet had a satisfactory reply from Health Minister Tessa Jowell to this question.

In their seeming rush to inflict compulsory fluoride on the nation via fluoridation, why have not the Government and Water UK taken any notice of the British Dental Journal's paper on the hazards of fluoride ingestion - in that instance from fluoride toothpaste - calling for a "risk-benefit strategy" which "minimises the amount of fluoride ingested and maximises the concentration of fluoride delivered to the oral environment"?

If all water is fluoridated and we can only rinse and spit but not swallow, what is everyone supposed to drink? Beware, Water UK and Tessa Jowell, the specious arguments of the fluoridationists.

Dr JENNY DUCKWORTH

Pilning, South Gloucestershire