Another EU Consumer Directive undermines fluoridation of drinking water

24 June 2008

An EU Directive to be transposed into Irish law by 19 th June 2008, stipulates that all toothpastes containing from 1,000 to 1,500 parts per million (ppm) fluoride must be labelled “For adult use only” or else carry the obligatory labelling “Children of 6 years and younger: Use a pea sized amount for supervised brushing to minimize swallowing. In case of intake of fluoride from other sources consult a dentist or doctor.”

‘This last instruction effectively torpedoes water fluoridation in Europe’ said VOICE spokesman, Robert Pocock.

Pocock added “This warning on fluoride toothpastes is long overdue here because there is ample evidence of fluoride overload in Ireland as a result of water fluoridation. So it is quite proper that all fluoride toothpastes on sale in Ireland will now have to carry labelling to consult a dentist or doctor. Since there is already fluoride added to drinking water, theoretically this could involve over a hundred thousand medical consultations by parents of under 6 year-olds from 19 th March 2009, when the directive comes into effect. To avert another undeniable systems failure in the health service, Health Minister Mary Harney must stop fluoridation now.

Commission Directive 2007/53/EC of 29 th August 2007 amends a Council Directive (76/768/EC) on cosmetic products, in particular in relation to restrictions and conditions on fluorine compounds. The Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) has declared that there is minimal risk of fluorosis from fluoridated toothpastes in children under 6 years old, provided toothpaste is the only source of fluoride for children (1). This is not the case in Ireland where the drinking water of 73% of the population is fluoridated; some 10% of UK drinking water is fluoridated but in all other EU Member States the practice has long been thoroughly discredited.

“We believe the Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health (IEBFH) is probably attempting to wriggle out of this directive, however the SCCP has already questioned ‘systemic fluoride supplementation’ because swallowed fluoride poses a risk of dental fluorosis in children.” added Pocock. The SCCP already observed that ‘the research into fluoride in toothpaste has been carried out in isolation from the systemic intake of fluoride’ (2).

Dental fluorosis in Irish 15 year olds was shown by a recent UCC Oral Health Services Research Survey to have increased seven fold from 1984 to 2002 and now affects four Irish teenagers in ten (3).

Irish Dentists Opposing Fluoridation, numbering over a hundred and twenty practising dentists, describes the incidence of fluorosis among children as an epidemic (4).

With almost all toothpastes on sale in Ireland containing fluoride, the Irish Dental Association’s instruction to Colgate-Palmolive in 2006 to withdraw fluoride toothpastes for under 2 year olds from sale in Ireland is contrary to EU legislation which permits free movement of goods within the EU. Provided fluoride toothpastes are correctly labelled as per the new Directive (2007/53/EC) they may be offered for sale in Ireland regardless of Ireland’s bizarre public policy of forcing fluoride on people via their drinking water (5).

ENDS

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(1) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:226:0019:01:EN:HTML

(2) http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_sccp/docs/sccp_o_024.pdf

(3) http://www.dohc.ie/publications/?year=2006 pp57-63

(4) www.idof.net

(5) http://www.voiceireland.org/campaigns/end_to_water_fluoridation.htm