FLUORIDATION OF WATER

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28160, 26 December 1956, Page 5

FLUORIDATION OF WATER

POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON INDUSTRY

PRIVATE EXPERIMENTS IN DUNEDIN "The Press” Special Service DUNEDIN, December 25. The Otago-Southland Manufacturers' Association is investigating the effect, if any, of the fluoridation of water on manufacturers’ products. Some Dunedin manufacturers will carry out private experiments, using water with fluorine added, and a report will be prepared by the association’s industrial research committee. The Dunedin investigations are part of a national inquiry by members, of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation to decide if submissions should be made to the Commission of Inquiry into Fluoridation, which has already begun its sittings in the North Island.

A member had suggested to the federation that fluoridation of water might affect particularly those manufacturers who flavoured their products as most of such ingredients used were termed “relatively unstable.” It was possible, the member suggested, that even minute quantities of fluorine could upset the stability of particular colourings with possible loss to the manufacturer.

The inquiry has already produced the reports of the United Kingdom Mission, which investigated this problem in the United States, and of the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, neither of which were able to find undesirable effects on the products of any industry, including brewing, soft drinks, baking, laundering and chemical manufacturing and processing. • These investigations considered water treated with one part per million of fluoride, which is the concentration considered likely for New Zealand.

Another expert has suggested that manufacturers who felt their products may be affected should conduct their own experiments and seek expert advice. He also advises that inexpensive filters to take fluoride from water are available. A report will be prepared and the association will make a recommendation to the federation in time for submissions to be made should they be thought desirable. It has no view at the moment.