Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the US National Toxicology Program’s Monograph on the State of the Science Concerning Fluoride Exposure and Neurodevelopment and Cognition: A Systematic Review, published in August 2024, and of its implications for the fluoridation of drinking water in England.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The US National Toxicology Program conducted a systematic review of the published scientific literature on the association between fluoride exposure and neurodevelopment and cognition. It concluded that there is “moderate confidence” that levels of fluoride intake, such as those approximated to be from drinking water concentrations greater than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) drinking water Guideline Value of 1.5 milligrams per litre, were associated with lower IQ in children. The target dose for fluoridated drinking water in England is below this value, at one milligram per litre.

There is no convincing evidence for adverse health effects from exposure to fluoride in drinking water below the WHO Guideline Value or the United Kingdom’s drinking water regulatory limit of 1.5 milligrams per litre. This value is intended to be protective of health for the whole population for a lifetime of exposure. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has a legal responsibility to monitor health impacts of fluoridated drinking water, and the next report will be published in 2026.