Medical ethics
Sir, —The medical profession possesses no prerogative or particular competence concerning ethics. “Medical ethics are not the ethics of medicine, but the ethics of the medical profession” (Dr E. Geiringer). It is fortunate, therefore, that the central ethical committee of the Medical Association is not the arbiter of the community’s ethical standards. That committee’s reported statement (August 20) is as fallacious as that of the 1957 Fluoridation Commission. The committee asserts that “fluoridation could be compared with compulsory treatment for venereal 'disease.” This implies that the whole population is treated daily and compulsorily for venereal disease (at‘ least the committee recognises the compulsion inherent in municipal fluoridation). It also implies that tooth decay is a communicable disease. The Medical Association has obviously been dragooned by dentists to mount the fluoridation bandwaggon. It will surely think twice before again allowing its committee to make such a foolish spectacle. —- Yours, etc.,
PAUL MALING. August 22, 1980.
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Press, 25 August 1980, Page 16
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156Medical ethics Press, 25 August 1980, Page 16
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