The decision to add flouride to our water is yet another example of the insidious erosion of our right to make our own decisions.

It is ironic that the present governments of the two great Western democracies are hellbent on destroying the rights of the individual in their own countries while extolling the virtues of a democratic form of government to the rest of the world.

I do, however, question the use of the expression "nanny state".

This gives an altogether too benevolent spin to what is happening.

It is hard to believe enforced medication, be it MMR or fluoride or whatever, is driven by concern for the nation's health when the questionable influence of the drug manufacturers on governments is so well known.

"Big Brother" seems chillingly more appropriate.

I am no chemist but I do believe there is a significant difference between the naturally-occurring calcium fluoride and the industrial waste product sodium fluoride.

Perhaps someone can correct me if I am mistaken.

Let us not fall into the trap of the Weimar Republic of pre-war Germany and awake one morning to find it too late to prevent a totalitarian takeover of our lives.

We have been warned.

-Vince Wild, Brighton