Sir, – It is one thing to endeavour to print a wide range of opinions in your letters section; it is quite another to print alarmist and misleading information about health. Declan Waugh (February 18th), deliberately or otherwise, is omitting the fact that fluoride has only been associated with brain development impairment at high doses ("Developmental Fluoride Neurotoxicity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis", 2012, Anna L Choi, et al). To quote that paper: "Such circumstances are difficult to find in many industrialised countries, because fluoride concentrations in community water are usually no higher than 1 mg/L, even when fluoride is added to water supplies as a public health measure to reduce tooth decay."
A claim about an individual might encourage legally vetting a letter for libel before publication. Perhaps scientific claims require a corresponding approach? – Yours, etc,
COLIN McGOVERN,
Vernon Avenue,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Sir, – How many times does it have to be pointed out (Declan Waugh, February 18th) that since the Republic introduced fluoridation in the 1960s the numbers of decayed missing and filled teeth in young adults has been halved compared to a similar population cohort in the North of Ireland where there is no fluoridation? QED. – Yours, etc,
FR BAIGEL (B Dent Sc 1961 –
retired dentist),
Ravensway, Bury,
Lancashire, England.