The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Sunday said it is studying the possibility of adding fluoride to water supplies to reduce dental decay.
It is the first time the ministry has formally considered fluoridating the nation’s water supply since 1984.
Between 1972 and 1984, fluoride was added to the water supply in Kaohsiung and in Nantou County’s Jhong Sing New Village (中興新村), where the Taiwan Provincial Government was located.
However, the program was ultimately scrapped over environmental concerns and public alarm over a supposed communist plot to poison residents by sabotaging the fluoridation system.
Ministry officials have on several occasions discussed fluoridation, but have not moved forward with the project due to uncertainties regarding possible health risks associated with fluorides, Department of Mental and Oral Health Deputy Director Chang Yung-min (張雍敏) said on Sunday.
Citing ministry statistics, Chang said only an estimated 2.8 percent of five-year-olds in 2011 had no cavities, well short of the government’s goal of 90 percent, which is derived from a 167-nation average.
The government last year approved the sale of fluoridated culinary salt to boost the number of people whose teeth have been treated with fluorides, because an increasing share of the public dined out regularly.
The water fluoridation study is part of a government initiative to do more to prevent tooth decay, Chang said.
Water fluoridation was once considered among the most significant public health advances of the past century. However, several studies have exposed the risks of long-term fluoride exposure and the medical profession is less certain of its merits.
Taiwan Academy of Pediatric Dentistry chairman Tsai Tsung-ping (蔡宗平) said water fluoridation is effective in preventing tooth decay if the concentration of the additives in the water is within reasonable levels.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS