Fluoride in drinking water: Will the EPA get tougher? Environmental health groups are now looking to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose tougher standards on fluoride in drinking water, building on a decision Friday by the federal Department of Health and Human Services to lower the recommended level for the first time in nearly 50 years. The HHS move came in the wake of a government study showing that about 2 out of 5 adolescents have tooth streaking or spottiness because of excessive fluoride. In extreme cases, teeth can become pitted.
The dangers may go beyond cosmetic issues. The EPA released two new reviews of research on fluoride Friday. Since 1962, the fluoridated water standard has been set at a range of 0.7 parts per million for warmer climates, where people's water intake was greater, to 1.2 parts per million in cooler regions. Although HHS recommends the level, it is up to the EPA, which regulates drinking water, to set a legal, enforceable standard. Dental and medical groups applauded the announcement. Newsroom Press Release July 10, 2008. For Immediate Release: July 10, 2008 Contact: CDC′s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of Communication, 770-488-5131 Nearly 70 percent of U.S. residents who get water from community water systems now receive fluoridated water, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The proportion of the U.S. population receiving fluoridated water, about 184 million people, increased from 62.1 percent in 1992 to 69.2 percent in 2006, said the study in this week′s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports.
“Community water fluoridation is an equitable, cost-effective, and cost-saving method of delivering fluoride to most people,” said Dr. William Maas, director of CDC′s Division of Oral Health. Fluoride, a naturally occurring compound in the environment, can reduce or prevent tooth decay. For more information on fluoridation and oral health, please visit www.cdc.gov/oralhealth .
EPA Reverses Itself on Fluoride. For decades, fluoride has been marketed and heralded as essential for good dental hygiene and used in most toothpastes and mouthwashes. In addition, parents have been routinely encouraged to give their kids cavity-fighting fluoride treatments when they visit the dentist. Beginning in the late 1940s, aided by mass industry lead lobbying campaigns, the government encouraged municipal water authorities to add fluoride to their community’s drinking water. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 70 percent of the U.S. population ingests fluoride through their community drinking water today and they want this percentage to continue to climb. This is in stark contrast to other developed European nations were fluoride is rarely added to drinking water – Britain provides only about 10 percent of their population with fluoridated water. “Community water fluoridation is an equitable, cost-effective, and cost-saving method of delivering fluoride to most people,” noted Dr.
50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation. 1) Fluoride is the only chemical added to water for the purpose of medical treatment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies fluoride as a drug when used to prevent or mitigate disease (FDA 2000). As a matter of basic logic, adding fluoride to water for the sole purpose of preventing tooth decay (a non-waterborne disease) is a form of medical treatment. All other water treatment chemicals are added to improve the water’s quality or safety, which fluoride does not do. 2) Fluoridation is unethical. Put another way: Does a voter have the right to require that their neighbor ingest a certain medication (even if it is against that neighbor’s will)? 3) The dose cannot be controlled. 4) The fluoride goes to everyone regardless of age, health or vulnerability. 5) People now receive fluoride from many other sources besides water. 6) Fluoride is not an essential nutrient. 7) The level in mothers’ milk is very low. 8 ) Fluoride accumulates in the body. 23) Fluoride may lower IQ.