The attitudes of west midland mothers to water fluoridation

Abstract

As LONG ago as 1952 a mission was sent by the British Government, on the recommendation of the Medical Research Council, to the United States of America and Canada in order to study the results of the water fluoridation programme which had been in operation since 1945. The report of the mission (Ministry of Health, Department of Health for Scotland, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, 1953) gave details of the benefits of the adjustment of fluoride in the water to a concentration of I ppm and stated that they could find no scientific evidence of any danger to health from the prolonged consumption of water containing fluoride in low concentration. They recommended the setting up of fluoridation studies in some selected communities in Britain before its general adoption was considered. In November, 1955, the first of the study areas, namely one half of Anglesey, began to receive a fluoridated domestic water supply. Over the next eleven years, two Government reports were published on the results of these studies (Ministry of Health, Scottish Office, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, 1962; Department of Health and Social Security, Scottish Office, Welsh Office, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, 1969). Now more than three million people in Britain are drinking fluoridated water (Fluoridation Society, 1972), the largest single area being in Birmingham, where studies into the effects of fluoridation on the prevalence of dental caries have been conducted by H~,stilow (1970) and Beal & James (1971). In spite of support given by such bodies as the World Health Organization, British Dental Association, British Medical Association and by successive Ministers of Health and Secretaries of State, the decision on whether to fluoridate the water supplies still rests with the Local Authority. The elected members of Local Authorities, however, are often influenced by pressure groups such as The National Pure Water Association and often they do nol have the technical knowledge to refute the arguments of misguided enthusiasts. It is hardly surpfis!ng, therefore, that in some places discussions have been determined by local politics and personalities rather than by reasoned consideration of the evidence. It is regrettable, therefore, that comparatively little is known about the attitudes of the public to the subject.