Former state senator Don Huffines and others gathered last Sunday at the Angelika Film Center to screen Fluoride On Trial, a documentary about a federal lawsuit against the EPA over the health risks associated with fluoride in tap water.
“This is a liberty issue,” Huffines told The Dallas Express. “It is about forcibly medicating citizens without their consent.”
“Patriots not only have the authority to question government but the obligation to question government,” he added.
The film, produced by Children’s Health Defense, an organization founded by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., lasted one hour. It begins with television commercials and government PSAs from the 1940s and 50s proclaiming the health benefits of fluoridation. These videos demonstrate that neither industry nor government has acknowledged any negative health consequences from fluoridation, unequivocally advocating for the consumption of fluoride. The film then switched between segments of attorney Michael Connett explaining the case he has brought and deposition footage from EPA experts conceding various points about the purported dangers of fluoridation.
One of the first findings presented was that 80% of children show fluorosis on at least two teeth, according to Connett and an EPA scientist. Fluorosis, a condition that results in white or brown speckles on your teeth, is caused by overexposure to fluoride in the early years of life.
A 2016 study presented in the film found a negative correlation between excessive fluoride consumption and children’s IQs.
Fluoride can be found in some baby formulas and the tap water used to reconstitute the product. Grocers have also sold fluoridation kits that mothers can use to add more fluoride to their baby formula. Fluoridated water for baby bottles can also be found for sale. Many children’s health resources strongly recommend fluoridation.
“[B]reastfed and formula-fed infants need appropriate fluoride supplementation if local drinking water contains less than 0.3 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride,” Childrenshealth.org’s website reads.
Connett finds this objectionable and points to recent studies that found the “adverse impacts” of ingesting fluoride were “thoroughly counterbalanced” by any claimed benefit. Nevertheless, fluoride is added to most of the nation’s tap water and can be found in many food products.
Other negative health consequences of fluoride presented by the film included skeletal decay, arthritis, osteoporosis, muscular damage, and fatigue.
The CDC’s website reads, “CDC promotes the safety and benefits of community water fluoridation as an effective, cost-efficient method for preventing tooth decay and improving overall oral health.”
The documentary highlights a lawsuit brought in the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs are suing the EPA for failing to regulate fluoride and protect the public.
The film alleges that the U.S. assistant secretary of health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Adm. Rachel Levine, is engaged in an effort to suppress a bombshell report authored by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) that found serious health dangers with fluoride. The report was supposed to be released in May 2022.
A series of emails from the HHS suggest that NTP alter its report. The NTP allegedly refuses. During the early stages of the lawsuit, HHS officials deposed claimed that they received orders from Levine’s office to stall and then halt the publication of the fluoride report.
Levine was contacted as part of the production of this story but did not respond by the publication deadline.
In the discussion following the film’s screening, Connett claimed that the HHS’s actions result from the department’s not wanting to admit to being wrong about something it has advocated for since World War II. Huffines called the policy “bizarre” and suggested that the health agencies do not want to be caught in “a 70-year-old lie.”
“If they have to admit this, imagine what else they’ll have to admit,” Huffines added.
The lawsuit Connett brought was completed in March. The case now awaits a judge’s decision. If the case is successful, the most likely outcome will be that the EPA will be forced to ban fluoridation of drinking water, Connett said.
An audience member asked the attorney if he believed a class action lawsuit would result should the court find in favor of the plaintiffs. Connett answered that certain procedural barriers would likely make class action lawsuits impossible.
Cyrena Nolan, who organized the event, claimed that every member of the Dallas City Council had been invited but that none had attended.
A clip of Fluoride On Trial can be found here.