Water Fluoridation Controversy - Use Throughout The World

Use Throughout The World

Water fluoridation is used in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and Australia, and a handful of other countries. The following nations previously fluoridated their water, but stopped the practice, with the years when water fluoridation started and stopped in parentheses:

• Federal Republic of Germany (1952–1971)
• Sweden (1952–1971)
• Netherlands (1953–1976)
• Czechoslovakia (1955–1990)
• German Democratic Republic (1959–1990)
• Soviet Union (1960–1990)
• Finland (1959–1993)
• Japan (1952–1972)

In the United Kingdom a Strategic Health Authority can direct a water company to fluoridate the water supply in an area if it is technically possible. The strategic health authority must consult with the local community and businesses in the affected area. The water company will act as a contractor in any new schemes and cannot refuse to fluoridate the supply.

In 1986 the journal Nature had a commentary, "Large temporal reductions in tooth decay, which cannot be attributed to fluoridation, have been observed in both unfluoridated and fluoridated areas of at least eight developed countries."

In areas with complex water sources, water fluoridation is more difficult and more costly. Alternative fluoridation methods have been proposed, and implemented in some parts of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assessing the effects of fluoridated toothpaste, milk fluoridation and salt fluoridation in Africa, Asia, and Europe. The WHO supports fluoridation of water in some areas.