Israel announces end to mandatory fluoridation

On Thursday, April 11, Israeli Health Minister Yael German signed off on historic regulations that negate the mandatory fluoridation of Israel's drinking water.

As well as the decision to end tap water fluoridation, the regulations also call for reducing the permitted bacteria concentration in water to zero, and to increase water inspection. These new regulations are pending legal confirmation at the Ministry of Health, and will take effect starting in 2014.

Once these regulations are fully in place, Israel will join the likes of China, Germany, Holland, Sweden and France as countries that don't have mandatory fluoridation of drinking water.

Central to this historic high court case is the work of scientist Declan Waugh. The respected scientist's extensive reports have been at the forefront of the Hot Press anti-fluoridation campaign – and have also had a crucial role to play in the Israeli case.

German's decision however has been met with protests from the Israeli Pediatric Association. They argue that ending mandatory fluoridation could harm children's dental health.

In our recent Hot Press Open Letter To The Junior Minister For Health we addressed that argument put forward by the Israeli Pediatric Association and other pro-fluoridation bodies, and recommended a commonsense alternative strategy against the mandatory fluoridation of Irish drinking water.

We asked: Would it make more sense to target children with education for better dental hygiene and diet? And suggested the initiation of a campaign to get children to consume less sugar and take personal responsibility for care of their teeth.

In the new issue of Hot Press we continue investigating the fluoride issue, and reveal startling new evidence which suggests that the judgement in the 1963 constitutional case, taken against the mandatory fluoridation of water in Ireland, may have been unsound.