Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Quinn I can also go back quite a few years with regard to this issue, as I tabled a motion in South Dublin County Council on the matter.

I have four pages to read but I do not know whether to read out two pages for or two pages against fluoridation. I am no wiser now than 15 years ago about fluoridation because there is scientific evidence to support both sides. I shall scrap my four pages and take up the current debate. I welcome Dr. Waugh. I heard his valuable contribution but valuable comments have been made by both sides.

It should be easy for the Minister of State to tell us what agent is used in the fluoridation of water here. The expert working group says that the product used here is no different from natural fluoride and that which is added to the water supply. That is one scientific view but there is an opposing scientific view that the agent is a highly corrosive acid which is a waste component of the Dutch and Flemish. It is said to be much more toxic than the sodium fluoride found in toothpaste that was referred to by Senator Mooney. We need an immediate answer to that scientific question. We have laboratories so we should be able to get an answer.