Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the previous speakers who have argued in favour of this amendment. We had a substantial debate in the House in October on this issue which really opened my eyes. When I looked into some of the research on this issue and the substantial body of knowledge that exists, I realised that we need to wake up. If only 2% of Europe is using flouride and the majority of that 2% is in Ireland, with only one borough in the UK doing so, then that strikes me as weird. In terms of pubic health advances and medicine, we must examine this more closely because it is quite unbelievable that we are completely right and everyone else in Europe is wrong. We are talking about the developed world when we talk about Europe.

Flouride, as Senator O'Brien pointed out, is deemed a poison in the US. Indeed, every tube of toothpaste carries a poison warning. I do not have a huge difficulty with flouride in toothpaste because one can spit it out, although a child under two is not able to do so. When I looked at the facts during the aforementioned debate I discovered that if a child were to ingest an entire tube of toothpaste, he or she would die instantly, while half a tube would result in a coma. Flouride, therefore, is quite a potent poison.

We are more than our teeth and that is the fundamental point. Flouride may be good at preventing cavities and we all like our teeth and want them to be healthy. However, if I were to swap an organ for my teeth, I might choose my brain or my bones. There are so many doubts out there about dementia, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis and so forth. The jury is definitely out on this issue. We do not have all of the facts correct on our side. There is no opt-out for those who want it. Water is, thankfully, still a public resource and is universally available in this country but nobody can opt out of flouridated water. Furthermore, one cannot boil flouride out of water. Since October last, I have stopped drinking tap water whenever I can and am looking into various filtration systems. I have not made a final decision in that regard but I have engaged in a fairly serious behavioural change. Where possible, I am drinking bottled water but I do not think that is the way forward.

I support this amendment. We spend €4.8 million or more per year on flouridation but for the sake of public health, it would be worth spending that amount on research in order to be sure where we are going with this. So many people relate anecdotal evidence about people who have very healthy lifestyles but who succumb to disease which seems to come out of nowhere. One would wonder. Often the environment is blamed but we do not really know. We cannot leave matters of public health to chance.