Children of KZN need fluorine

The article “Too much fluoride can damage your teeth and bones” (Courier, September 20) is totally inappropriate for KZN where all river waters have less than 0,1 mg/l of fluorine and where our borehole waters never exceeded 0,3 mg/l (analysis carried out by the Durban metro laboratory over the past 20 years).
The article is appropriate for provinces like Limpopo and Gauteng and possibly others. Fluoride salts are extremely soluble and although present in toothpaste, are washed away after people clean their teeth.
In the year 2000 Dr Nkosazana Zuma, when in charge of health, wanted to fluoridate all South African potable waters but because of the varying qualities of fluorine in the waters throughout the country, this was not carried out. At the time Durban Metro laboratory recommended that possibly another solution would be adding sodium fluoride/iodide.
The fluoridised salt would then be sold in provinces where the waters are short of fluorine, such as KZN. Check the bottled water on our shop shelves: they virtually all contain less than 0,1 ppm or mg/l of fluorine! Furthermore the bottled water on our shelves containing less than 24 mg/l of calcium (SA water specification) should not be allowed to be sold as this contributes to osteoporosis.
DAVE WILLIAMS
Ballito