Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has said it is long past the time that fluoride was removed from our water.

Crowe was speaking after attending a meeting of environmental activists who oppose the practice and who heard that only a handful of states in Europe still put fluoride in their water.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“In May this year Sinn Féin introduced the Health Fluoridation of Water Supplies Repeal Bill 2013. If passed, this bill will ensure that the fluoridation of our water will be consigned to history and abolished in this State.

“The practice of adding fluoride to our water began in 1964 and next year it will be 50 years in operation.

“50 years ago it was seen as a radical if not a crude way of medicating the public with fluoride, supposedly to improve dental care and nearly 50 years consecutive governments have ensured the water the public drink is mixed with high levels of fluoride. They have done this without asking for consent and without considering a growing the body of evidence that suggests that it is medically harming our citizens.

“Many studies have linked mass fluoridation to an increase in many inflammatory diseases including asthma, kidney malfunctions, increased hip fractures in the elderly, bronchial problems, arthritic symptoms, and bone cancers.

“Surely it is time to stop this mass medication.

“The evidence is there for all to see and it is not surprising that this State is only one of four EU States that continues to support the fluoridation of water.

“Switzerland was the last European country to end fluoridation in 2000 and we know that public water supplies in the North are not fluoridated.

“In Europe the health of many citizens is better than in this State, and this might be down to other factors, but why are we not actively investigating the impact of fluoridation on health.

“If fluoridation was supposed to improve dental care, then why is dental care better in European States that have largely abandoned the practice?

“The EU Commission on Health and Consumers is on record as saying that, people do not need fluoride for normal growth and development.

“Additionally the European Court of Justice has defined fluoridation as a medication and it has, significantly, refused to sanction its implementation.

“Yet for whatever bizarre reason our government continues on its illogical path to impose fluoride on the population at an unknown cost to health and €4.8 million per annum in monetary terms.

“This is not a party political issue but Sinn Féin wants to see fluoride medication discontinued.

“Surely no political party or independent policy maker should deny support for a bill and a policy that will ultimately bring about a vast improvement public health.

“It’s long past the time to stop the fluoridation of our water.”

ENDS