Arguably one of the most consequential public health court cases in American history has sat for months in the Northern District of California without a ruling from the judge.
After years of legal wrangling, trials, and retrials, arguments in Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. EPA concluded in March, and the last docket entry is dated April 2. The case is a citizen suit brought pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act. If successful, it would force the Environmental Protection Agency to ban fluoride use in tap water nationally.
Michael Connett is the plaintiff’s attorney. In a recent interview with The Dallas Express, he cited numerous studies drawing links between fluoride in drinking water and children’s IQs, hypothyroidism, and a variety of other maladies.
Connett and other anti-fluoride activists frequently identify fluorosis as an undisputed risk of fluoride consumption. Fluorosis most prominently affects the teeth by causing striations or blotching. According to the CDC, roughly 34% of Americans ages 6 to 49 show signs of very mild to severe fluorosis. Researchers estimate that fluorosis affects approximately 70 million people around the world (roughly .87% of the world’s population).
In extremely rare cases, fluorosis can also occur in the skeleton and cause weakening of bones.
The CDC’s website 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 advocates argue that direct application to the teeth can help defeat cavities through “re-mineralization,” and numerous retailers sell baby products with added fluoride.
District Judge Edward Chen has been presiding over the case since 2017. Part of the delay might be due to the court waiting on the highly anticipated National Toxicology Program report on fluoride.
Early iterations of the nearly 1,600-page report titled DRAFT NTP Monograph on the State of the Science Concerning Fluoride Exposure and Neurodevelopmental and Cognitive Health Effects: A Systematic Review have already given the public an indication of what the final report will say.
The draft summary states, ” The body of evidence from studies on adults is also limited and provides low confidence that fluoride exposure is associated with adverse effects on adult cognition. There is, however, a large body of evidence on IQ effects in children. There is also some evidence that higher fluoride exposure is associated with other neurodevelopmental and cognitive effects; although, because of the heterogeneity of the outcomes, there is low confidence in the literature for these other effects.
“This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher fluoride exposure [e.g., represented by populations whose total fluoride exposure approximates or exceeds the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality of 1.5 mg/L of fluoride (WHO 2017)] is 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 final report has never been released, and internal emails reveal efforts by Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Rachel Levine to delay its publication indefinitely. DX previously unsuccessfully contacted Levine for a comment or explanation.
However, the report’s release is not binding on the court, and Chen could rule at any time. There has been no indication as to what is behind the delay in Chen’s ruling.
Some localities in Texas have taken action without the court’s ruling.
“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 residents last fall.
