Anti-fluoride activist Regina Imburgia has put the Dallas City Council on notice regarding the dangers of water fluoridation that were recently enumerated in a bombshell report by the National Toxicology Program.
On August 29, Imburgia emailed the entire Dallas City Council and Sarah Standifer, head of Dallas Water Utilities, a recent story by The Dallas Express that covered the report’s release. This is far from the first time Imburgia and others have emailed anti-fluoride scientific literature to council members, but this is the first time they have done so with such a shocking and highly publicized document.
The long-awaited report examined numerous studies and found substantial evidence of an inverse association between estimated childhood fluoride consumption and IQ.
“This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher estimated fluoride exposures (e.g., as in approximations of exposure such as drinking water fluoride concentrations that exceed the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality of 1.5 mg/L of fluoride) are consistently associated with lower IQ in children. More studies are needed to fully understand the potential for lower fluoride exposure to affect children’s IQ,” the abstract reads.
It also raised questions about the impact fluoride could have on adults, although these negative side effects were less certain.
“The body of evidence from studies in adults is … limited and provides low confidence that fluoride exposure is associated with adverse effects on adult cognition,” the abstract reads.
The report also swept through a variety of other studies that found other health risks associated with fluoride consumption, including conditions already well-known in the scientific community, such as fluorosis. Fluorosis is a condition that causes striations and blotching on teeth.
According to the CDC, roughly 34% of Americans ages 6-49 show signs of very mild to severe fluorosis.
DX‘s story made a splash when it was first published. It was read and shared thousands of times and generated a tremendous outcry, garnering a record of approximately 200 responses in the comments section shortly after publication.
Later, other publications followed DX‘s lead and covered the report, too. Several days later, the left-leaning publication Salon ran the headline, “Excess fluoride linked to cognitive impairment in kids, massive study finds.” Numerous other publications, such as MSN, HealthNews, and various dental trade publications, also published similar stories.
Given the release of the National Toxicology Program report on August 21, the flurry of media coverage, and Imburgia’s emails to the council members about the shocking findings, it is unclear why neither the council nor Standifer have issued a statement or responded to the emails.
Nevertheless, some jurisdictions in Texas have already acted, even before the report came out.
“After careful consideration and thorough evaluation of scientific research, public opinion, and the potential health and environmental impacts, we have concluded that it is in the best interest of our community to discontinue the practice of water fluoridation effective December 1, 2023,” Shean R. Dalton, general manager of Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District, wrote to the residents of the small Austin-area town last fall.
Whether the Dallas City Council takes action or not, the council members’ hands may be forced by the outcome of a federal lawsuit currently pending in the Northern District of California.
Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. EPA is awaiting a ruling from the Honorable Edward Chen, who has presided over the case since it started as a citizen’s petition in 2017. The case’s last docket entry was in early April, and the last of the arguments and legal wrangling occurred in March.
While nothing in the National Toxicology Program’s report was binding on the court, many anti-fluoride activists believed the judge was holding his ruling until it was released. If they are correct, the judge’s ruling could be published any day now.
Should Chen side with the plaintiffs, the EPA would be forced to ban the fluoridation of tap water. This would mean that water fluoridation, a practice that has become widespread since the 1950s, could cease in every state and locality in the United States.