Blackpool Schools To Provide Fluoridated Milk

Fluoridated milk will be given out to 8,000 schoolchildren in Blackpool to help address "poor dental health."

18:10 20 January 2016

Blackpool council has approved fluoridated school milk plan, which is a part of the Lancashire seaside town’s free school breakfast scheme. The goal is to help address poor dental health among schoolchildren.

 

Councillor Graham Cain said: "Unfortunately the state of Blackpool's dental health is very poor.

 

"Some parts of the country can benefit from fluoride naturally appearing in their daily drinking water - in Blackpool we cannot.

 

"The free breakfast programme allows us to reach all primary school children as they are growing up and make the fluoride milk available to them there."

However, Blackpool councillor Tony Williams, who has concerns over the plan, said: "There is a lot of conflicting evidence about adding fluoride to milk, including that it cancels out the good effects of calcium.

 

"You can't mass medicate children, which is what they are doing. Who is going to monitor how much fluoride children will have in them?

 

"The only way to do that is urine tests and how, and when, are they going to do that on a regular basis for 8,000 children?

 

"What if a child is allergic to fluoride and a teacher has administered it. Are they going to be liable?"

 

The NHS website says there is "no convincing evidence" to suggest a link between fluoride and health problems.