A CHILDREN'S dental health project, pioneered in St Helens, is now being taken up in other parts of the country.

The Barrow Milk Foundation invited the town to pilot its fluoride in milk scheme in infants schools in 1993 and Ashurst Primary School, Blackbrook was the first of the borough's schools to introduce it.

Since then, another 43 local schools have followed suit and nationally almost 200 schools are now involved in the project. Once a school goes for the initiative, parents are asked whether they want their children to drink fluoride milk. If not, ordinary milk is provided.

As part of the continuing debate about the benefits of fluoride, the University of Liverpool is studying statistics provided by the schools and dental experts.

Margaret Woodward of The Barrow Milk Foundation, who was instrumental in implementing the pilot project, said: "The scheme proved so successful in St Helens that it began to attract attention from other local authorities around the country and the number of schools taking up fluoride milk continues to grow."

Cameras from the BBC TV News 24 programme visited Ashurst Primary School last week to highlight the fluoride milk project.