ARE we going to let our water be fluoridated simply because we were too apathetic to give any thought to the matter?

I don't know all the facts and I don't dispute the findings that when fluoride is added to drinking water, then some children's teeth need fewer fillings.

If this is to be used as the main argument in favour of mass fluoridation, then why not add contraceptives to the drinking water of schoolchildren, or vitamins to the water in underprivileged areas? Maybe we could add a nicotine substitute to stop people smoking.

If all these seem ridiculous and far-fetched, I apologise, but what's the difference? Just because something may be good for some of the community doesn't make it good for all of the community.

The type of fluoride which is added to water is a poison and I am furious that anyone could be considering making me drink it.

How many children with uncared-for teeth drink water anyway? Why not put the fluoride in the fizzy drinks, etc. they drink by the gallon every week? The answer to that one, of course, is that then they would be up against big businesses which wouldn't stand for it. Why should we?

If fluoride was given to children in infant and primary school in tablet form, unless individual parents objected then that might go some way to addressing the problem. But I don't want it in my drinking water.

It is a poison and given in drinking water some people would be drinking huge quantities of it while others would have hardly any. How can random dosing like that be right?

It will be too late when they prove that too much fluoride can be dangerous. We already know that too much fluoride can actually damage healthy teeth. What could it do to the rest of your body?

Leave my water alone. It has enough additives and lead floating around in it already.

Speak out now, it may be your last chance.

R PIMLEY (Mrs), Lammack Road, Blackburn.