RE the letters of Ian Upton and Brian Derbyshire on the subject of water fluoridation.

One aspect is never explained by the opponents of fluoridation: if as they assert, fluoridation harms people, why is it supported by every mainstream body in the world of medicine?

I have in front of me a list of 41 national organisations which have, after studying the issue in depth, signed up to the idea that water fluoridation is both beneficial in terms of dental health, and harmless in terms of non-dental health. It includes the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of General Practitioners, Help the Aged, the Health Visitors Association, Mencap, the National Childrens Bureau, the NHS Consultants Association, Action for Sick Children and the Patients Association.

Is it really suggested that all these bodies, which are dedicated to the improvement of peoples lives and health, are all involved in a conspiracy of incompetence or malevolence to poison us all?

Guy Harkin

Wade Bank

Westhoughton