Nor could it ever be approved - the substance added to the drinking water in Ireland, in parts of the UK as well as in the US is a highly corrosive liquid containing numerous contaminants. Fluoride is difficult to dose and has never been evaluated in any controlled experiment necessary for drug approval. It is a toxic waste by-product of phosphate production and other industrial processes.

In a recent meeting of the Nutrition Committee of Codex Alimentarius, the international body that is charged with setting standards for foods, fluoride was not approved for addition to infant formula, but the European Commission successfully argued to allow fluoride as a possible ingredient in "medical foods".