“Further study needed” on fluoride in milk

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32880, 1 April 1972, Page 20

“Further study needed” on fluoride in milk

Relatively little is known about the effectiveness of milk fluoriatfon as a public health measure, compared with water fluoridation where there is an abundance of evidence as to its value, according to the assistant director of the Division of Dental Health of the Health Department (Mr R. K. Logan). Mr Logan was replying to a letter to the editor of “The Press” from Phyllis Deakin, of Portsmouth, England, who wrote: — “If the degree of conviction in Christchurch is "well below action point” as Dr R. B. Nevin is reported to have said (February 18), perhaps its citizens would like to know of an alternative to the wasteful system of fluoridating whole water supplies. There can be no excuse for apathy when children’s health is endangered. “What can be done? Teeth can be brushed with fluoride paste or tablets can be taken. At their best, however, these are haphazard methods, and require frequent visits to dentists or a degree of supervision which apathy is unlikely to produce. “There is a third method, in Switzerland extensive tests by Wr Eugen Zeigler cover some 20 years and provide evidence that m*lk containing one part per million of fluoride is a safe and effective way of ensuring vastly better dental health among children. It is a method with considerable claims. “Foremost is the indisputable claim that milk is a natural food for children and that its fluoridated content can be controlled at any processing dairy. So treated and clearly labelled, the distribution of the milk is no more compH-

i cated than with other milk ' products at present available. “The cost is dramatically I less than the water supply i system and avoids most of : the maior criticisms, such ,as the disturbing one of environmental pollution or possible adverse after-effects among adults by ununecessarily prolonged intake. It can be made available where there is no piped water or the supply is temporally disrupted. “The Borrow Dental Milk Foundation established in England is a charitable body which seeks to increase public knowledge of this alternative approach to a very worrying problem. Its address is Paanel) Grange, Cowplain, Portsmouth, England. Anyone concerned with this issue would find food for thought in what it is doing.” Mr Logan said that studies on water fluoridation had been made in New Zealand and many other countries and that its value was known. "The tests conducted by Ziegler in Switzerland constituted a limited experiment on a very small group of children. Results of the experiment suggested that a measure of protection against dental caries could be achieved by milk fluoridation, but further extensive research would be required to establish feasibility as a public health measure," he said. Beef prediction The New South Wales Premier (Sir Robert Askin) predicted today that Au' lia would become the w< largest exporter of beef, exports rising to 65' ’ tons a year, earning s26u.n. —Sydney, March 29.