Sir, - Your correspondent Dr William Reville writes with feeling about science but his ideas don't measure up to his sentiments. He is mistaken in castigating (July 21st) the attitude to science of ecologists and feminists (though it is fair enough to lump them together - feminists have been an important part of the green movement). In general, the "radical eco-philosophers" are much more well-informed and sophisticated than he would have us believe.
Instead of revealing his own antipathies, Dr Reville should try finding concrete examples of where the ecologists are wrong in their ideas. Or maybe he should look for a beam in his own eye. He could usefully start with the issue of water fluoridation, about which he has written approvingly in the past. Is he aware that the scientists of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington have taken a unanimous stand against fluoridation, citing causal links between fluoride and a variety of health problems? According to the EPA Union's statement of July 2nd, 1997, "the health and welfare of the public is not served by the addition of this substance [fluoride] to the public water." The statement points specifically to recent studies linking fluoride to lowered IQ in children. It also refers to evidence of cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment, and bone pathology. The union, which represents 1,200 professionals (many with PhDs) directly responsible for assessing scientific information on drinking water safety, has objected for more than a decade to EPA management positions on fluoride. The EPA scientists have charged EPA management with "fraudulent alterations of data and negligent omission of fact to arrive at predetermined agency political positions regarding fluoride".
Meanwhile, the Irish EPA pronounces our drinking water "satisfactory" despite the shocking results from its water sampling: according to the EPA's own figures, 13.3 per cent of Irish water samples exceed the maximum permissible dose of fluoride! Does Dr Reville wonder why Ireland is the only democracy that forces fluoride on all its citizens? Does he wonder why Dr Robert Carton, former US EPA scientist, called fluoridation "the greatest scientific fraud of this century"? - Yours, etc.,
Joe Thornton,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.