Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh
4pm (refreshments) for 4.30pm
Prof Glen O’Hara (Oxford Brookes University): 'Inadmissable and Cruel': Fear and Risk in Britain’s Post-War Fluoride Debate
Abstract: After WWII, British doctors and politicians thought that they could import the perfect solution for dental illness: drinking water fluoridation. But the campaigns they faced brought together the libertarian Right, the socialist Left, advocates of 'real foods' and the nascent Green movement. Anti-fluoridisers campaigned for 'freedom' against an interfering government, amid medical scandals such as the Thalidomide tragedy. This paper will use the controversy to explore the historical relationship between the body, civil rights, consumerism, the citizenry and medical profession.