Fluoridation

Press, Volume C, Issue 29637, 6 October 1961, Page 7

Fluoridation

Sir,—lt is not correct to say, as D. E. Currie does, that 2000 doctors support fluoridation. Dr. Douglas, before he went to Australia, was medical officer of health for Christchurch. One evening he went to the big monthly meeting of doctors in Christchurch to ascertain what opinions the majority had on fluoridation. All he could get on their attitude was, “We do not know much about fluoridation. We have no time to study it. But as our friends the dentists support it we will not oppose it.” I believe he made a second attempt to get something more positive, but did not succeed.—Yours,- etc., A PRACTISING PHYSICIAN. October 2, 1961. [The president of the Canterbury division of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association (Dr. A. C. Sandston) said: “Without being able to give numbers, I can say quite definitely that the vast majority of doctors support fluoridation of water supplies as a means of preventing dental caries, as the evidence that it helps in this way is quite conclusive. This is a dental rather than a medical problem, and as there is no scientifically-based evidence to show that the recommended percentage of fluorine in the water has any adverse effect whatever on the human body. I can see no reason why the medical profession should oppose it.”]