On Fluoridation
SIR,—My attention has been drawn to the letter from Mr Farquhar in your issue of March 18 in which he claims that the US experiments show that nothing has gone wrong.
Comparisons of mortality statistics. ten-year figures. show higher rates in fluoridated Grand Rapids than in unfluoridated Flint; Grand Rapids figures are also much higher than the state average and show an un- favourable trend. For this reason the Select Commit- tee on Water Fluoridation of the House of Repre- sentatives of Michigan unanimously decided that much more research is needed before an unquestion- able 'green light is given to fluoridation. and recom- mended a two-year moratorium.
The usual practice of food and drug authorities, when they permit the addition of a cumulative poison to a foodstuff, is to limit the permitted amount to 1 per cent of the cumulative toxic dose. Fluoridated water is already in the toxic range: the moat recent evidence of this is the report of a death from drinking water containing less than four parts per million of fluoride.
The only sane course is to make fluorides avail- able- for those whose doctors prescribe such and whose parents agree.
W. M. SYKES
Hon Secretary National Pure Water Association Thorpe End. A linond bury. Huddersfield
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