In 2013 Fluoride Free Lethbridge was engaged extensively in the elimination of fluoridation in the Lethbridge drinking water. We spent thousands of man-hours and dollars trying to educate the community about the very real harm of fluoride in the water.
We were mocked, ridiculed, maligned, and scorned for our efforts. And the Lethbridge City Council continues to poison its citizens with fluoridation.
But on September 25, 2024, we were vindicated. A federal court in California ruled that water fluoridation poses an “Unreasonable Risk” to children. The ruling requires the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to take regulatory action to eliminate that risk.
The following is a statement from the Fluoride Action Network.
“After a precedent-setting 7-year legal battle in federal court, an historic ruling by the United States District Court of the Northern District of California has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take regulatory action to eliminate the ‘unreasonable risk’ to the health of children posed by the practice of water fluoridation.
“The verdict is a significant loss for the EPA and the promoters of fluoridation like the American Dental Association and the US Centers For Disease Control because the court found that their claims of safety – made for over 75 years – were in fact not supported by evidence.
“Senior Judge Edward Chen wrote:
“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.
“In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health; it is associated with a reduction in the IQ of children and is hazardous at dosages that are far too close to fluoride levels in the drinking water of the United States…Reduced IQ poses serious harm. Studies have linked IQ decrements of even one or two points to, e.g., reduced educational attainment, employment status, productivity, and earned wages.
“The ruling did not specify exactly what measures must be adopted by the EPA, but under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), once the court rules that a chemical poses an unreasonable risk, the EPA is obligated by law to restrict or eliminate the risk.
“Judge Chen described a range of options for regulating fluoridation, including banning it, but he warned:
“One thing the EPA cannot do, however, in the face of this Court’s finding, is to ignore that risk.”
Stuart Cooper, Executive Director of Fluoride Action Network, concludes, “The public didn’t sign up to have a chemical added to public drinking water that could adversely affect the brain. And while a cavity can easily be filled, damage to the brain is permanent, and the consequences are lifelong. There are no second chances when it comes to impaired brain development.”
After this ruling was made, numerous communities immediately ceased adding fluoride chemicals to their municipal water. When will Lethbridge do the same?
For the case-closed facts, read:
The Fallacies of Alberta Health Services Position on Artificial Water Fluoridation Exposed
