Status of the U.K. Fluoridation Mandate Proposal
The Health and Care Bill includes two clauses (147 and 148) that would take authority for fluoridation away from local authorities and give it to the central government, which would amount to mandatory fluoridation for the UK. It has already been approved by the House of Commons, and is currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords. This stage involves examination of the Bill’s details and various sections by members, and offers an opportunity for amendments to be made. If the Bill gets through this stage as written, then its passage with the fluoridation mandate will almost certainly occur. The fight then will have to be at the local level, where citizens will have to vigorously defend the safety of their drinking water.
Some members of the House of Lords are already working to protect residents, including Aeneas MacKay, who has the title of Lord Reay. He gave an articulate and convincing 6-minute speech before Parliament in December.
Lord Reay is expected to speak on his opposition to the mandate again this upcoming Monday, January 31st. Speeches by the Lords (Group 1) will start around 3:15PM (GMT) / 10:15AM (Eastern US), and Lord Reay will be in Group 4; so a little bit later. You can watch the speech live using this link. FAN will also share a video (hopefully on Tuesday) of the speech with our email list and social media followers.
Experts Continue To Raise Serious Concerns
Politicians and public health bureaucrats in the U.K. cannot claim ignorance of the science. If they proceed with fluoridation in the UK, the potential for harm to the fetus, to the formula-fed infant, and to those children who develop dental fluorosis, as well as other segments of society, is real. This past March, British scientist Stephen Peckham, BSc, MA — a professor of health policy at the University of Kent and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine—submitted a letter as formal evidence to the House of Commons Health Select Committee. Peckham is the lead author of a 2015 study linking community water fluoridation to increased rates of hypothyroidism in the UK.
This was followed by a public statement published in October by three scientists–Vyvyan Howard, MB, ChB, PhD, the late Spedding Micklem, PhD, and Paul Connett, PhD– to Boris Johnson, ripping apart the mandate proposal using the latest science, and criticizing politicians for ignoring the many scientific studies that have documented harm to the brain and several other tissues associated with both short-term and long-term exposure to fluoride at the levels experienced in fluoridated communities.
Having not heard back from the Prime Minister, Connett and Howard have published a second letter. It calls out the “grossly inadequate review” performed by the Department of Health & Social Care, and succinctly lays out the case for stopping this proposal based on the overwhelming new science confirming neurotoxicity.
READ & SHARE THE SECOND LETTER TO BORIS JOHNSON
Sincerely,
Stuart Cooper
Campaign Director
Fluoride Action Network
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