WHATEVER the merits or demerits of fluoridation, many people have an instinctive revulsion against mass medication.

As opponents of fluoridation of Bolton's water have frequently pointed out, those who want to take fluoride may do so without inflicting it on those who don't.

More than 30 years ago, Bolton said "No" to adding fluoride to tap water and recent letters to this newspaper seem to indicate that those people who care enough to speak out have not changed that view.

On Wednesday Bolton will host a meeting of the North West Councils Against Fluoridation in the wake of the Government's decision to resurrect the idea of compulsory fluoridation.

We shall read the Councils' arguments with interest. But all the indications are that as far as the people of Bolton are concerned they will be pushing at an open door.

Bolton made it clear in 1992, in a telephone poll conducted by the BEN, that the town does not want fluoride added to its water.

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