THE silent majority is once again under threat of being poisoned by the very people entrusted to provide them with clean, safe drinking water, by being forced when drinking water to ingest toxic waste collected from the scrubbers of factory chimneys, known as fluoride.

A fact that is not acknowledged in the argument for and against use of fluoride in water is that socio-economic differences will influence the general health of the child and its teeth -- a poor diet will produce poor health. As there is no proof that fluoride benefits teeth, perhaps parents of children who still wish for their youngsters to be poisoned can buy their own toothpaste or tablets containing fluoride.

Tooth decay is an avoidable condition, which is neither contagious nor life threatening. Why should the rest of us suffer?

France, Italy, and Norway rejected fluoride. Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden stopped it and Portugal, Belgium, Greece and Austria ended fluoride experiments. Only Iceland forces all its citizens to ingest fluoride by law.

And that's just Europe. In USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand many areas have banned it and legal battles continue to have it banned in remaining areas.

In English law, medical treatment without consent is only permitted by court order or for the mentally ill or for minors with the consent of their guardians. Therefore, public mass medication is illegal; force-fed fluoride is against the law. Are water companies above the law?

DAPHNE GILLIBRAND, Preston Old Road, Witton, Blackburn.