My Decaying Rights

An NHS patient has a fundamental right to refuse treatment. Even the NHS Direct website admits the fact.
"Providing that a person is competent (that they understand what is going on and the consequences of their actions) and that they are acting voluntarily, the decisions of adults about physical intervention cannot be overridden or ignored."

So, on that basis, how can the enforced medication that is fluoridation of water be permissible ? I'm a competent person. (Many at work may disagree, but in law it's true). But if I live in an area where water is fluoridated, I cannot act voluntarily in refusing the intake into my system of what is, after all, a poison. A poison whose long-term effects are not really known, apart from the fact that it discolours teeth.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson promises public consultation and debate before a local area has its water fluoridated. Notwithstanding the numerous problems associated with measuring the outcome of such consultation (they're hardly likely to give us a referendum on this issue, given that we can't even get a referendum on transferring important powers to the EU) it's hardly the point. Even if 55% of my neighbours want me to have fluoride poured down their throats, why should have it forced down mine ?

I heard some pillock on the radio last night defending fluoridation on the basis that it "reduced inequalities" because it helped some people who "didn't know how to brush their teeth". So there you have it. Not only does water fluoridation contravene one of the most basic principles of the NHS, it also reduces the effectiveness of Natural Selection, by preserving the gene pool of those who are so thick they can't even use a toothbrush.