Authored by Christy Prais via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to oppose and delay a lawsuit filed against them by the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) to ban the use of fluoride in public water supplies in the United States.
The case has revealed government attempts to limit available evidence and avoid having the facts of water fluoridation reviewed in court. A spokesperson with FAN told The Epoch Times in an email, “this represents a major reversal in the federal agencies’ position, and will ensure that the public has access to these critical documents that would have otherwise remained buried forever.”
Fluoride exposure has been linked to an increased risk of hypothyroidism in pregnant women and brain-based disorders in their offspring. There are also findings that higher fluoride exposure is associated with reduced IQ in children.
From Petition to Lawsuit
The lawsuit began in 2017 after a petition filed in November 2016 called on the EPA to “protect the public and susceptible subpopulations from the neurotoxic risks of fluoride by banning the addition of fluoridation chemicals to water.”
The petition referenced more than 2,500 pages of scientific documentation detailing the risks of water fluoridation to human health, including more than 180 published studies showing fluoride is linked to reduced IQ and neurotoxic harm.
In its Feb. 27, 2017 response, the EPA claimed the petition had failed to “set forth a scientifically defensible basis to conclude that any persons have suffered neurotoxic harm as a result of exposure to fluoride,” and denied the claim.
The Toxic Substances Control Act passed in 2016 includes statutes that provide citizens the ability to challenge an EPA denial in federal court. Thus, in 2017, FAN, Food & Water Watch, and Organic Consumers Association filed a lawsuit against the EPA challenging the denial.
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Government Agency Interference
Internal CDC emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by plaintiff attorney Michael Connett showed discussion and comments related to the NTP’s unreleased Fluoride Toxicity Report.
The emails seem to indicate the NTP report was not made public due to interference from Levine and Tabak.
One email from the CDC dated June 3, 2022, specifically stated, “ASH [Assistant Secretary of Health] Levine has put the report on hold until further notice.”
In the submitted notice Connett stated, “These emails confirm that the NTP considered the May 2022 monograph to be the NTP’s final report. They also confirm that the CDC was opposed to the NTP releasing the report, and that leadership at the top levels of the Department of Health and Human Services intervened to stop the report from being released.”
Harmful Effects of Fluoride
In the past, fluoridation chemicals were obtained from the wet scrubbing systems of the phosphate fertilizer industry and added to many public water supplies in the United States to reduce tooth decay. It is now recognized by dental researchers that fluoride’s primary benefit comes from topical application and does not need to be swallowed to prevent tooth decay.
The FAN states that “in recent years, however, an increasing number of water departments have begun purchasing their fluoride chemicals from China. Based on recent incidents, it appears that the quality control of the Chinese chemicals is even more lax, and variable, than the U.S.-produced chemicals.”
The NTP’s 2019 Systematic Review of Fluoride Exposure and Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Health Effects concluded that “ … fluoride is presumed to be a cognitive neurodevelopmental hazard to humans.” They state that “This conclusion is based on a consistent pattern of findings in human studies across several different populations showing that higher fluoride exposure is associated with decreased IQ or other cognitive impairments in children.”
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