European Commission: EU Documents on Fluoride

Tweet

|   print this page

2011

2010

Derogation on the Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC
SCHER (Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks)
April 16, 2010

-- SCHER released this short report that presents conclusions that are alarmingly ill-informed.
SCHER is expected to release its report on the use of fluoride in drinking water on May 18.

Commission Regulation (EU) No 115/2010
Laying down the conditions for use of activated alumina for the removal of fluoride from natural mineral waters and spring waters
February 9, 2010

Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance sulfuryl fluoride.
(Summary)
European Food Safety Authority, January 2010

2009

Directive 2009/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
18 June 2009 on the exploitation and marketing of natural mineral waters
Criteria - Fluoride content greater than 1 mg/l

EU's draft Risk Assessment on Cryolite
(Trisodium hexafluoroaluminate)
June 25, 2009

Working Mandate on Fluoridation of Drinking Water
March 2009

2008

Summary & Opinion on Sodium Monofluorophosphate
Approved for use as a food supplement by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
November 27, 2008

This document states:: "The safety of fluoride itself, in term of amounts that may be consumed, is outside the remit of this Panel." On the same day EFSA also approved Calcium fluoride "for nutritional purposes to food supplements."

See responses to EFSA from
Dr. Vyvyan Howard
and
The Alliance for Natural Health (UK)

Summary & Opinion on Calcium fluoride
Approved "for nutritional purposes to food supplements" by the
European Food Safety Authority
September 9, 2008

Risk Assessment Report on Aluminium fluoride
September 9, 2008

2005

The Safety of Fluorine Compounds in Oral Hygiene Products for Children Under the Age of 6 Years
September 20, 2005

Concentration Limits for Boron and Fluoride in Natural Mineral Waters
June 22, 2005

Tolerable Upper Intake Level of Fluoride
February 22, 2005

2003

Commission Directive 2003/40/EC
establishing the list, concentration limits and labelling requirements for the constituents of natural
mineral waters and the conditions for using ozone-enriched air for the treatment of natural
mineral waters and spring waters
May 16, 2003

Submissions by the Fluoride Action Network:

• March 30, 2009: Working Mandate on Fluoridation

Submissions on "Call for Information"

• FAN's May 4, 2009; Letter to SCHER Committee
• PART 1: Categorization of the submitted studies
• PART 2: List of studies by Author

UPDATE: SECOND CALL FOR INFORMATION. Deadline: June 26, 2009
The four documents to read:

• 2nd Call for Information (html)
• Final Working Mandate on fluoride/fluoridation chemicals (pdf)
• Explanation of the changes made from the first Working Mandate (pdf)
• May 12, 2009, Minutes of the 1st Working Group on fluoridation of drinking water (pdf)

The European Commission Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General requested the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) to "critically review any information that has become available in the public domain on the hazard profile and epidemiological evidence of adverse and/or beneficial health effects of fluoride and to assess the health risks that may be associated with the use of the most common drinking water fluoridation agents (e.g. silicofluorides)."

The deadline for the FIRST Call for Information was April 26.  In response to 97 comments received in the first round, the "Working Mandate on Fluoridation" has been revised and a new call for information has been issued. 

In line with the modified final mandate, interested parties are invited to submit by June 26, 2009:

1. In particular the submissions should focus on evidence made available after 2004 and on evidence that was made available before 2004 but which was not considered in the previous evaluations by the European Union scientific Bodies (Scientific Committee on Consumer Products, 20.09.05, European Food Safety Authority Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies, NDA 22.02.05, and Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain, CONTAM 22.06.09)
2. Scientific peer reviewed research papers, reviews and reports on the hazard profile, health effects (positive and negative), and human exposure (direct or indirect via drinking water and the environment) to most common drinking water fluoridating agents e.g. silicofluorides like ((hydro)fluorosilicic acid, sodium silicofluoride, disodium hexafluorosilicate or hexafluorosilicic acid) used in drinking water fluoridation.
3. Other credible scientific information that may not be easily available and which is directly relevant to this issue.

• OF CONCERN: The following appeared in the May 12 minutes of the SCHER Working Group

Some members of the WG  [Working Group] declared a possible conflict of interest in view of their affiliations and/or previous research work.

Taking into account the nature of the declarations, the members of the WG agreed that these did not constitute a conflict of interest and that all experts could participate in the WG.

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, all declarations will be published after the completion of the work and the publication of the opinion.

Email your comments to
Sanco-Sc8-Secretariat@ec.europa.eu
SUBJECT:  SCHER: Fluoridation - Call for Information

FIRST Solicitation for Public Comments

Working mandate on fluoride and chemicals used in the fluoridation of drinking water:

The European Commission Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General have requested the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) to critically review any information that has become available in the public domain since 2005 on the hazard profile and epidemiological evidence of adverse and/or beneficial health effects of fluoride and to assess the health risks that may be associated with the use of silicofluorides acid in drinking water fluoridation.

Comments due April 8, 2009 on the Working mandate on the hazard profile, health effects, and human exposure to fluoride and assessment of the drinking water fluoridation agents.

Submission:

• Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network, Working Mandate on Fluoridation, March 30, 2009.
• Rudolf Ziegelbecker jr., Mag.rer.nat., Dipl.-Ing., Dr.techn., Comments on the "working mandate," April 8, 2009

"Call for Information" due April 26, 2009:

1. Scientific peer reviewed research papers, reviews and reports (later than 2004) on hazard profile, health effects, and human exposure to fluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid used in drinking water fluoridation.
2. Scientific peer reviewed research papers, reviews and reports on hazard profile, health effects, and human exposure to silicofluorides e.g. ((hydro)fluorosilicic acid, sodium silicofluoride, disodium hexafluorosilicate or hexafluorosilicic acid) used in drinking water fluoridation.
3. Other credible scientific information that may not be easily available and which is directly relevant to this issue.

Submission by the Fluoride Action Network:

• FAN's May 4, 2009 Letter to the SCHER Committee
• PART 1: Categorization of the submitted studies by subject
• PART 2: List of studies by author

Other Submissions:

Douglass Cross BSc. CBiol. MIBiol. EurProBiol., April 7, 2009

• Submission

You can help support our efforts to initiate legislative changes
and spread our message.