HAMPSHIRE fluoridation is now on hold, awaiting the Judicial Review into the Southampton consultation process, which gives time to reassess some of the background questions.

What is actually used? The two permitted fluorides for this purpose are not medically approved.

The fluoridating SMAs refuse to say what is used, when asked through the Freedom of Information Office.

The fluoridating water companies are doing the same, all using ‘information not available’ or ‘no comment’ response. We need to know manufacturers, product names, medical status, etc.

How safely is it used? What protections are built into the system? A 2008 Severn Trent undetected area overdose tells us. The record report from the Drinking Water Inspectorate requires 14 recommendations to be addressed to prevent a recurrence. These are some of the things that went wrong: At Dimmingsdale Works, Severn Trent doses fluoride in fulfilment of a legal agreement with West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. In June and July, water leaving the works contained more fluoride that permitted (overdosing) which went undetected because work being carried out to install new equipment was inadequately supervised.

The technician involved had not received adequate training as specifically required by Sections five of the Code of Practice on Technical Aspects of Fluoridation 2005 and competence had not been assessed.

The equipment was not operating correctly and had not been fully tested prior to use. Guidance, in the form of a procedure or checklist, was absent.

Alarms were not responded to and there was a general lack of awareness of the local water supply configuration, which meant the area receiving fluoridated water was not accurately defined or sampled appropriately.

The Inspectorate acted to facilitate the widest possible learning by the industry and health authorities from this incident. Companies practising fluoridation now and in the future must ensure that the contractual arrangements in place with the relevant health authority are fully consistent with and support the duty of the company to comply with the Code of Practice at all times.

Please note: Code of Practice . . . Guidance Notes . . . and as with most chemically dangerous areas in Britain - not Statutory Regulations. So no penalties?

Margaret Reichlin, MacCallum Road, Upper Enham.