The only things that should be put into water is a spot of whisky or maybe some light cordial... or an ice cube.
Unless it is absolutely essential and without question (like if E.coli decides to become the nasty new kid in town) then my stance is leave it alone.
If you feel the need to put something allegedly medicinal into some water then by all means do so... with your own jug of tap water and your own medicine bottle.
Of course anyone who would choose to do so would likely get a "you must be kidding" response from others they may try and pour a drink to, in the name of improving health... their way.
But of course those others have the choice, and when it comes to what you decide to allow into your biological system you must have a choice.
Now if the addition is to battle bacteria then that has to be taken on the chin... we don't need reminding what happens in the wake of not quickly treating potentially dodgy water.
And so... fluoride.
To dose us all with it, or not to dose us all with it?
That is the question, and to me the answer is simple.
Leave it in the bottle, and if people feel they want to assist their teeth with the stuff then go buy the fluoride toothpaste or the potions and make up your own doses.
In their apparent haste to start pumping the stuff the Government has introduced a regulation along the lines of exempting all chemicals containing fluoride from being classed as medicines if they are introduced via the water supply... yet medicines prevent tooth decay don't they?
And by the way, there's a clause in the Bill of Rights which states "everyone has the right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment".
Little wonder they want to outlaw the word "medicine".
So then, apparently tooth decay among the young of this land is very high, and there are those who believe the introduction of fluoride into a city's drinking water will help reduce that, although there's little evidence of that actually happening that I can uncover.
Basically, it won't...because many kids hardly ever drink water anyway...they drink the sugar drinks which spark decay in the first place.
That is where those in governmental and local health and civic authority quarters need to place their focus.
Reduce sugar.
Go to the top of the cliff, not the bottom.
Don't introduce a chemical into the taps that a lot of people do not want, and I daresay do not need.
Because there is a growing school of thought, and well-backed too I might add, that is questioning what this stuff could do over time.
Because it will travel through muscles and organs and brains...parts of the body unused to such chemicals invading them.
How about this from Dr Arvid Carlsson who was the Nobel Laureate in Medicine in 2000 and health advisor to the government of Sweden: "Fluoridation is against all modern principles of pharmacology. It is obsolete. I don't think anybody, not a single dentist, would bring up this question in Sweden anymore."
Another doctor, from Canada, who took part in a 2006 national research report on fluoride in drinking water simply stated "we now know that fluoride doesn't need to be swallowed, that the public has to be informed... they should be told that it does not work by swallowing it".
If you are a fluoride proponent then go and get some and by all means have a mouthwash with it.
But having it flow all through one's entire system when it's only meant to be washing the toothy terrain is to me, ever so slightly crazy.
You might as well start drinking eyewash if the old eyeballs start getting scratchy.
Ooh, some may say excitedly.
There's an idea.
Let's tap into that.