Flouride in Drinking Water:A Challenge to Public Health

The menace of high fluoride concentration in ground water resources has now become one of the major health related geo environmental issues in many countries of the world. Our country is also confronting the same problem, where the high fluoride concentration in ground water resources and the resultant disease "FLUOROSIS" is widely distributed in nearly 150 districts of 15 states. In Madhya Pradesh during recent years, the problem of fluoride has reached an alarming proportion. The continued consumption of fluoride in excess to 1.5 mg/l either through water, air or food items for a long time may cause dental, non-skeletal and skeletal fluorosis. If it is significantly high in drinking water, it may cripple one for whole life. Fluorosis is one of the incurable diseases and perhaps, the prevention is the only known solution. Today, it has posed serious adverse health effects in many parts of the Indian union. In this paper it is attempted to identify its sources, impact on human health and to develop a strategy to tackle fluorosis in the country.