brussels,-- Belgium plans to ban the sale of tablets and chewing gum that have fluoride in them because of the risk that they might cause the brittle bone condition osteoporosis, a Health Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday,Reuter reported.

But it will stop short of banning toothpaste with fluoride, which protects teeth from decay, he said.

The move is believed to be the first such ban in the European union, officials said, and may spark renewed debate about the safety of fluoride, which some countries add to public drinking water supplies as a means of improving dental health.

It will probably come into force by late August, said Belgian Health Ministry spokesman Tom Ruts.

"Those products are used excessively and often abused," he told reuters, confirming comments made by Health Minister Magda Aelvoet in the latest issue of the weekly magazine, Humo.

Aelvoet told the magazine she hoped her European union partners would follow her example.

"In these cases, a harmonisation within the European union is of course desirable but I can't always wait until the European union is ready," she was quoted as saying. "We will however communicate our official decision to the other European member states in the hope that they will follow us swiftly."

Fluoride supplements -- such as fluoride tablets or fluoride chewing gun -- are promoted by dentists to fight dental caries.

They have been sold in Belgium without a doctor's prescription.

The ministry made its decision after the results of a study commissioned by an advisory board to the Ministry, the Spokesman said. It found that excessive use of fluoride products could cause fluoride poisoning, damage the nervous system and foster osteoporosis, where bones become weak and fragile.