WITH regard to the ongoing fluoridation scandal (Daily Echo, October 1), it is clear that one of the most difficult things is to convince those with the power to impose this scheme of the elementary fact that the purpose of a water supply is to supply water.

It is not to administer random medication, even if it should be effective.

The oft-quoted dental decay in children, however, is a matter of deficient care by the parents or the children themselves.

Dosing the water for the general population will not solve the problem.

The obsession with the “benefits”

of fluoride overlooks the fact that the body consists of more than teeth – yet one would have supposed this to be obvious.

Fluoride occurs naturally in various foodstuffs, so many people will already be receiving more than can be taken in merely in water, but we each have the right and opportunity to reduce our consumption of those particular things if we desire to do so.

No one has that choice with water.

G. PAYNE, Southampton.