Toxic industrial waste is not easy to get rid of these days as disposal costs can run into billions.

Some polluting companies have found a way round this dilemma by pretending their highly toxic fluorosilicate waste is the same as naturally-occurring calcium fluoride.

Dangerous industrial waste is simply sold on to fluoridating water companies in order to "reduce the incidence of tooth decay in children.

How's that for sheer marketing brilliance?

According to the 1972 Poisons Act, the fluoride used in ten per cent of the UK's water supplies is a Class 2 poison.

It is more toxic than lead, just slightly less toxic than arsenic and has never passed any safety test as being fit for human consumption.

Initially, fluoride could only be legally disposed of by selling it as a potent insecticide and rat poison.

Now there is talk of fluoridating the UK's entire supply, just at a time when every other European country (save Ireland and a small area in Spain) has rejected the idea.

It is interesting to note that research doesn't support the view that fluoride in drinking water has preventative effects. On the contrary, despite the fluoridation of water supplies, dental caries have been on the increase.

Where fluoridation has been discontinued, dental decay has decreased, not increased.

Apart from fluoride in water supplies, other sources of naturally-occurring calcium fluoride are contained in tea, cheese, fish and meat.

Certain varieties of fruit juices are very high in fluoride, due to the fact that grapes have been sprayed with insecticides. Fluoride is also found in pesticides and drugs (such as Prozac) and dental hygiene products.

However, applying fluoride topically in the form of toothpaste is altogether different than ingesting it on a daily basis from the water supply for the rest of your life.

Those who drink more water or have nutritional deficiencies are likely to be more susceptible to the toxic side effects of excess fluoride.

It is associated with mottled and crumbling teeth, stress fractures and deformities.

It depresses the thyroid and may increase the rate of infertility. Studies from China show that fluoride exposure is associated with lowered IQ in children.

Fluoride also complexes with dangerous metals such as aluminium (from pots) to form aluminium fluoride. In areas such as ours, the water is treated with aluminium to make the water appear clear.

Aluminium fluoride can easily penetrate the blood-brain barrier.

Some people say fluoridation is a form of mass medication but the Medicines Control Agency refuses to accept fluoride as a medicinal drug and, besides, forceable medication can only be carried out on people sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

We can't be mass medicated with fluoride, just mass poisoned. Very slowly, one milligram per litre at a time.

Developing countries have less dental decay than those living in industrialised ones so we can safely presume tooth decay is not due to a lack of rat poison but a symptom of poor dietary habits.

But that is not the real issue here, is it? It is more likely to be the rubberstamping of dubious industrial practices on the back of a science that has become thoroughly compromised.

For more information, visit the National Pure Water Association web site at www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk
Martina is a qualified nutritionist at the Crescent Clinic of Complementary Medicine, 37 Vernon Terrace, Brighton. Tel: 01273 202221 or email: martina@thehealthbank.co.uk