THE substance used to fluoridate drinking water is hexafluorosilicic acid, the toxic waste liquor scrubbed from the chimneys of the phosphate fertiliser industry.

It contains about 19 per cent fluorine and other contaminants such as lead, arsenic, other heavy metals and radionuclides from the phosphate rock.

No scientific tests have ever been carried out into the safety of this pollution scrubber product anywhere in the world.

All published scientific work has been carried out using pharmaceutical quality sodium fluoride and distilled.de-ionised water.

The legality of adding an untested product into the drinking water for human consumption must be questionable. To obtain one part per million of fluoride, 6.8 milligrammes of toxic liquor must be added to every litre of water.

From the legal point of view, fluoridation is compulsory medication, it is done without consent of the person on the receiving end.

The law says that medical treatment without consent is only permitted by court order or for the mentally ill or for minors with the consent of their guardians.

I, and millions of other people in this country, do not give our consent to be compulsorily medicated through our drinking water.

LIZ VAUGHAN, Information Officer, North West Councils Against Fluoridation, Croft End, Lowick Bridge, Cumbria.