Moves to add fluoride to school milk in Bradford today received a mixed reaction.

Many parents said they could not afford school milk in the first place, while others welcomed the action.

Yesterday, the Telegraph & Argus revealed how regeneration project Bradford Trident had funded a study into fluoridated milk in nursery and primary schools.

Mum Karen Healey, whose seven-year-old daughter attends Bowling Park Primary School, said milk cost £5 a term and that many children took water to drink.

She added: "It's up to parents to make sure that their kids' teeth are decent."

Nisa Khizar, who has a six- and a four-year-old at the West Bowling school, added: "Parents should have a say. If their children have got healthy teeth, they should leave them alone."

The study is part of a four-year programme to improve dental health in the Trident area after a survey by the Northern and Yorkshire Health Observatory revealed more than half of Bradford's children had tooth decay by the age of five. Experts found they had more than twice the number of decayed teeth than those in Newcastle and North Tyneside, which has fluoridated water since the 1960s.

The report recommended consideration of adding fluoride to both milk and water.

But West Yorkshire anti-fluoride campaigner Dennis Edmondson said it was pointless adding 'poison' to try to preserve teeth which would be lost between the ages of five and nine.

He said: "Fluoride is not an essential mineral - this has been admitted by the Department of Health - and it doesn't prevent tooth decay."

A spokesman for The British Dental Association said: "Decisions on whether to offer fluoridated milk in schools are taken by local authorities in consultation with health authorities.