Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is correct that I am not a scientist and I had as much difficulty with some of the technical phrases as he did. I accept fully that there are differing scientific views. What I am impressed with is the fact that this is the only country in Europe that considers it is necessary to do this to our water supply. Other countries in Europe, including Finland, have decided that it is damaging. In one area of Finland fluoride was removed from the water and within three months the incidence of the diseases to which I referred fell. It is not the ultimate forensic proof for which we are looking, but the coincidence of statistics and the way they have changed when fluoride is added or removed from water make it look very much like a duck to me. To say the connection has not been proved is a little like saying cigarettes do not cause cancer. The statistics show that the incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer increases when fluoride is added to the water and goes down when it is not. This has parallels with saying that while one smokes, one can get cancer, but one has no proof that tobacco causes it. The statistics are available. I pointed to the stark example of the differences between Northern Ireland and the Republic which are worrying and significant.

The Hot Press interview is based on multiple independent inquiries in the United States of America, statistics from Europe and the decisions of countries on the back of their own experiences of water fluoridation. I am worried that whereas it may have been important in the 1960s to prevent tooth decay to introduce water fluoridation, its harmful effects were not then known. The beneficial effects are not in dispute. There is increasingly, however, a case being made for reducing and eliminating fluoride from the water supply. It may be strange for me to point out the following to the Minister of State, but that is what happens when people move to being in government and others in opposition. There are people who are making a great deal of money in adding fluoride to water. There is a strong lobby group in favour of this and one must be aware that these forces are moving just like those in the tobacco industry which is a large and strong lobby group.

There is obviously a strong lobby group in favour of putting fluoride into water. The Minister of State has to be aware that those forces are moving. Just like the tobacco industry, which is a big and strong lobby, the chemical industry is a big and strong lobby and it is in the interests of the chemical industry to keep putting fluoride in the water. Neither the tobacco industry nor the chemical industry is particularly sensitive to people's health. Indeed they are damaging it.

See this speech in context