A campaign is being mounted against the fluoridation of public water in the Republic. It claims the process can damage children's teeth and cause cancer, irritable bowel syndrome and brittle bones in adults.
Last night in Stillorgan, Dublin, a group of concerned residents who recently formed an action group to campaign against the fluoridation of drinking water held its first public meeting.
Sister Rachel Hoey, of the Fluoride Free Water Action Group, claims that 50 per cent of children in the State are affected by dental fluorosis, which presents as brown staining of teeth.
Her group wants people to be given a choice on fluoridation and says people can use fluoridated toothpaste or put fluoride tablets in their water supply if they wish.
Public water supplies have been fluoridated in the Republic since 1964. Some 73 per cent of the population receives fluoridated water. Fluoride is a toxin which is added to water at a rate of 1 mg per litre to reduce tooth decay.
Mr Walter Graham, a US artist living in Downpatrick, Co Down, was part of a lobby group which successfully forced the British government to reverse its decision to fluoridate water supplies in Northern Ireland in 1996.
Addressing the public meeting, he said 98 per cent of Europeans had rejected fluoridation. Once in water, it ended up in beer, foods cooked in water and bottles for babies.
"The Government is drugging the entire population against its will. You are being heavily overdosed on fluoride. How dare they do that without even asking your permission?" he said.
He said scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington DC had came out against the practice and found a link between fluoridation and lowered IQ in children.
He also pointed out that there was a warning on the packs of fluoridated toothpaste in the US to seek medical attention immediately for children who swallowed more than a pea-sized piece of the toothpaste.
The Department of Health recently insisted that fluoride in water was a safe and effective way to improve oral health.