Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

66. To ask the Minister for Health the reason after 50 years of fluoridation no proper environmental impact studies have ever been done. [39443/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Fluoride is already widely available in the environment; soil contains fluoride, and the oceans of the world are fluoridated, having twice the concentration of fluoride as has fluoridated drinking water. The question of wider environmental effects of fluoridation was considered by the EU Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risk (SCHER) Review in 2011. It found that fluoridation of water supplies does not pose an unacceptable risk to the wider environment, indicating that:

“Exposure of environmental organisms to the levels of fluoride used for water fluoridation of drinking water is not expected to lead to unacceptable risks for the environment”.

The Department of Health keeps the policy of water fluoridation under constant review. As part of this ongoing work, a review of evidence on the impact of water fluoridation at its current level on the health of the population and on the environment is being conducted by the Health Research Board on behalf of the Department. The report is due to be completed by the end of this year.