Fluoride In Bottled Water Wins Universal Approval

The Age

Wednesday November 12, 2008

By KELLY BURKE

BOTTLED water may soon contain an additive the beverage industry and health experts have lobbied for in unison: fluoride.

Little more than three weeks ago, Coca-Cola Amatil and the Australian Dental Association were at loggerheads over a "myth-busting" print advertisement trying to assuage parents' fears that drinking the world's most recognised brand of soft drink might be making their children fat and rotting their teeth.

Now, as the dentists' formal complaints against the giant multinational progress through the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Advertising Standards Bureau, the warring parties have found something they can agree upon.

After concluding there were no public health and safety concerns, Food Standards Australia New Zealand has called for submissions to show why the authority shouldn't approve an application by the Australian Beverages Council to add fluoride to bottled water.

The move has the support of the peak dentists' body, the Australian Medical Association, and the Public Health Association of Australia among others.

Approval is being considered with the proviso the maximum level of one milligram per litre is adhered to, in line with the existing level for fluoridated tap water.