Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth: The legal fiction of water fluoridation

Medical Law International

Volumn 12, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 11-27

  Shaw, David ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

mass medication; public health; public health ethics; water fluoridation

Indexed keywords

DRINKING WATER; FLUORIDE;

ACT; ARTICLE; EUROPEAN UNION; FLUORIDATION; GOVERNMENT REGULATION; HUMAN; JURISPRUDENCE; LAW; LEGAL ASPECT; LICENCE; SAFETY; TOOTH DISEASE; UNITED KINGDOM; WATER QUALITY; WATER SUPPLY;

EID: 84872000849     PISSN: 09685332     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0968533212438642     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. A. Johnstone, Battle stations for new fluoride war, The Herald, 19 August 1992, www. heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/battle-stations-for-new- fluoride-war-1.797542 (accessed 4 November 2010).
2. Medical Research Council, Water Fluoridation and Health (London, MRC, 2002).
3. Fluoride and cancer. Fluoride Action Network. http://www.fluoridealert. org/health/cancer/(accessed 21 February 2012).
4. British Fluoridation Society. Comments on the case Mrs Catherine McColl v Strathclyde Regional Council, www.bfsweb.org/documents/summary%20of%20jauncey. pdf (accessed 4 November 2010).
5. BBC News, NHS forces city to add fluoride, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ england/hampshire/7911820.stm (accessed 16 November 2010).
6. Dentistry.co.uk, Southampton fluoridation challenge launched, www.dentistry.co.uk/news/2024-Southampton-fluoridation-challenge-launched (accessed 16 November 2010).
7. Dentistry.co.uk, Judge pours cold water on fluoridation plans. www.dentistry.co.uk/news/news-detail.php? id=2219&e=Judge-pours-cold-water- on-fluoridation-plansinfo&newstype =patients (accessed 16 November 2010).
8. The Secret Truth, Southampton - Fluoride - Crucial High Court hearings are put back until January 2011, http://thesecrettruth.co.uk/wordpress/? p=1400 (accessed 16 November 2010).
9. See R (on the application of Milner) v Southampton Strategic Health Authority, [2011] EWHC 218 (Admin), at para. 86. See also J. Reeve, High Court challenge to fluoridation plans for Southampton rejected. The Daily Echo, 11 February 2011, www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/briefing/fluoride/8848663.Fluoride- challenge-rejected-in-the-High-Court/(accessed 20 July 2011).
10. See Introductory text, Water Act 2003, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/ 37/introduction (accessed 16 November 2010).
11. Op. cit., Part 3, s. 58, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/37/section/58 (accessed 16 November 2010).
12. Personal communication, MHRA. Referenced in Nuffield Council on Bioethics Public Health: Ethical Issues. 2007, p.130, reference 59.
13. Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Borderline products, www.mhra. gov.uk/Howweregulate/Medicines/Doesmyproductneedalicence/ Borderlineproducts/index. htm (accessed 26 July 2011).
14. MHRA. Public Assessment Report: Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste, www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/l-unit1/documents/websiteresources/con2023699.pdf (accessed 26 July 2011).
15. Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals. Safe Upper Levels for Vitamins and Minerals (London, Food Standards Agency, 2003). Available at: www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/vitmin2003.pdf (accessed 21 October 2010).
16. Personal communication, Food Standards Agency. Referenced in Nuffield Council Report on Public Health Ethics, op. cit., p. 130, footnote 60.
17. See Drinking Water Inspectorate, at www.dwi.gov.uk/(accessed 1 November 2010).
18. D. Cross, 'Response: the "Alice in Wonderland" world of the ethics of water fluoridation', British Medical Journal 355 (2007), p. 699, www.bmj.com/content/335/7622/699/reply (accessed 1 November 2010).
19. EU Directive 98/83/EC Relating to the Quality of Water Intended for Human Consumption, at p. 14, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/consleg/ 1998/L/01998L0083-20031120-en. pdf (accessed 21 February 2012).
20. Upjohn 1989 C-112/89; referenced in MHRA, What is a medicinal product?, www.mhra.gov. uk/home/groups/is-lic/documents/publication/con007544.pdf (accessed 1 November 2010).
21. D. Cross, The status of fluoridated water in European Community legislation, Fluoride 38 (2005), pp. 335-336, www.fluorideresearch.org/384/ files/384335-336.pdf (accessed 1 November 2010).
22. All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Fluoridation. Response to Nuffield Council Report. 3. 13, http://www.appgaf.org.uk/reports/reports-nuffield-apr08/ (accessed 1 November 2010).
23. As noted by D. Cross, A conflict of interests: Human rights, civil liberties and water fluoridation, www.xproexperts.co.uk/newsletters/mar11/ fluoridation%20article.pdf (accessed ).
24. Switzerland stopped all water fluoridation in favour of salt fluoridation in 2003: see J. Meyer and P. Wiehl, Schweiz Monatsschr, Zahnmed 113 (2003), pp. 702 (in French) and 728-729 (in German).
25. H. Van Schooten, 'Law as fact, law as fiction: a tripartite model of legal communication', in A Wagner, W Werner and D Cao eds, Interpretation, Law and the Construction of Meaning (Germany, Springer, 2007). Available at: www.springerlink.com/content/j669t714u3t63782/fulltext.pdf (accessed 21 February 2012).
26. D. Cross, 'Status of fluoridated water'.