The plaintiffs claimed victory in Food & Water Watch v. Environmental Protection Agency on September 24.
Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California found that water fluoridation posed an “unreasonable risk” to human health. This ruling will likely prompt a national regulatory response that will either drastically reduce or halt the addition of fluoride to water.
“The issue before this Court is whether the Plaintiffs have established by a preponderance of the evidence that the fluoridation of drinking water at levels typical in the United States poses an unreasonable risk of injury to the health of the public within the meaning of Amended [Toxic Substances Control Act],” the federal judge said.
Judge Chen then explained what exactly prompted his findings.
“For the reasons set forth below, the Court so finds. Specifically, the Court finds that fluoridation of water at 0.7 milligrams per liter (“mg/L”) – the level presently considered ‘optimal’ in the United States – poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children. … the Court finds there is an unreasonable risk of such injury, a risk sufficient to require the EPA to engage with a regulatory response. … One thing the EPA cannot do, however, in the face of this Court’s finding, is to ignore that risk,” Judge Chen explained.
The element about child IQs was one of the most shocking revelations from the bombshell report released by the National Toxicology Program just before this ruling, The Dallas Express previously reported.
“… 18 [high-quality studies] reported an inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children,” read the report’s abstract, known as NTP MGRAPH-08.
The report went on to say that moderate and low confidence, the second and third highest degrees of confidence out of five, indicate a credibly sourced and plausible negative connection between childhood fluoride consumption and kids’ IQs. It also appeared to be similarly suspicious that fluoridation could be linked to other cognitive problems in children.
“The Court has done what EPA has long refused to do: applied EPA’s risk assessment framework to fluoride,” Michael Connett, the plaintiff’s lead attorney, told DX. “And in doing so has shown very clearly that fluoridation of water presents an unreasonable risk of harm. It’s a historic decision. And, as we await EPA’s rulemaking proceeding, policymakers would be well advised to ask: should we really be adding a neurotoxicant to our drinking water?”
Connett added that he sees no reason why any jurisdiction should wait for the EPA regulatory actions. He urged local authorities, such as municipal water officials, to act now.
Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held an X Space with Connett the morning after the ruling and congratulated the lawyer on “this extraordinary victory.”
DX asked longtime anti-fluoride activists in Dallas for their thoughts on the ruling.
Former state Senator Don Huffines, who previously appeared with Connett at a screening of the film Fluoride on trial said, “This is a tremendous grassroots victory for moms across America who have, for years, been fighting the forcible medication and poisoning of citizens, including children, without their consent.”
“This heroic ruling clearly recognizes that special interest monopolies control the EPA to the detriment of all Americans, particularly children, who even the EPA admits have brain damage and lower IQ due to fluoride,” he added.
Regina Imburgia, an activist who has frequently appeared before the city council to advocate against water fluoridation, said she was thankful to the judge for his ruling.
“But I cannot celebrate until the fluoride tap is turned off. The Dallas City Council voted to start the fluoridation program and eight need to vote to end it. I hope this ruling … gives the council the courage to go against the pressure and propaganda they get from the vested stakeholders in government (CDC, HHS), medicine (ADA), (AMA), and pro-fluoride shills. The generational harm caused by fluoridation needs to end today,” Imburgia said.
Despite the obvious implications of this ruling, the federal public health agencies have remained unmoved.
The CDC’s website still says, “CDC named fluoridation of drinking water one of 10 great public health interventions of the 20th century because of the dramatic decline in cavities since community water fluoridation started in 1945.”
Fluoride was initially added to water at the urging of federal health agencies and to dental products, such as toothpaste, in the 1940s and 50s because some scientists believed it prevented “dental caries,” commonly known as “cavities.”
Most tap water in highly populated areas, including almost all tap water in DFW, is fluoridated.
DX contacted Director Sarah Standifer of Dallas Water Utilities for comment, but she did not respond by the publication deadline.
