Trevor Sargent
Ceist:97 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Health and Children if fluoride is an enzyme poison; if it is more toxic than lead; and if it accumulates in the body. [2096/98]
Written Answers. - Human Enzyme System.
There is no evidence to suggest that fluoride, as it occurs normally in nature in this country or in its use as a public health measure to improve oral health, has any adverse effect on human enzyme systems. A paper presented at a World Scientific Congress in October 1997 reported that there was no adverse effect on human enzyme systems in a population living in an area with naturally fluoridated water at four times the optimal level.
World health authorities agreed that lead emissions in the environment can be a hazard to human health and that fluoride used as a public health measure is safe for human health.
Metabolism of fluoride involves the absorption of approximately 75 per cent to 90 per cent from the alimentary tract. Approximately 50 per cent of the dose absorbed is excreted in urine and the rest is associated with calcified tissues in teeth and bone. The lifetime accumulation of fluoride ion in bone over several generations in communities with naturally fluoridated water in the United States has had no adverse health consequences.