Author(s): Paul Connett

Pop Science

When the US Public Health Service endorsed water fluoridation in 1959, there was little evidence of its safety. Now, siz decades later and after most countries have rejected the practice, more than 70 per cent of Americans, as well as 200 million people worldwide, are drinking fluoridated water. The Centre for Disease Control and the American Dental Association continue to promote it - and even support mandatory state-wide water fluoridation - despite increasing evidence that it is not only unnecessary, but potentially hazardous to humans. In this timely and important book, Drs Connett, Beck and Micklem take a new look at the science behind water fluoridation and argue that just because the dental and medical establishments endorse a public health measure does not mean it is safe. In the case of water fluoridation, the chemicals that go into the drinking water than more than 180 million people drink each day are not even pharmaceutical grade, but rather a hazardous waste product of the phosphate fertiliser industry. It is illegal to dump this waste into the sea or local surface water and yet it is allowed in our drinking water!
To make matters worse, this programme receives no oversight from the Food and Drugs Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency takes no responsibility for the practice. And from an ethical standpoint, say the authors, water fluoridation is a bad medical practice: individuals are being forced to take medication without their informed consent; there is no control over the dose and no monitoring of possible side effects.