The Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health, established in 2004, monitors new and emerging issues on fluoride and its effects on health and related matters. It advises that the balance of scientific evidence worldwide confirms that water fluoridation, at the optimal level, does not cause any ill effects and is the safest and most cost effective method of protecting the oral health of the population.
Water fluoridation is supported by reputable international authorities including, among others, the World Health Organisation. There are a number of authoritative international reviews of the the evidence available, the most recent of which was carried out by the EU Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER). It concluded in 2011 that the available evidence did not support a clear link between fluoride and osteosarcoma and cancer in general. Since then, a major study from Harvard University 'An Assessment of Bone Fluoride and Osteosarcoma'(Kim et al 2011) has concluded that there is no evidence of a link between fluoride and osteosarcoma. The results of 'Drinking water fluoridation and osteosarcoma incidence on the island of Ireland' (Comber et al 2011) do not support the hypothesis that osteosarcoma incidence on the the island of Ireland is related to public water fluoridation.
