A statement asking Congress to end water fluoridation in the United States has been released by the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Over 600 professionals, including a Nobel Prize winner, officers in the Union that represents Environmental Protection Agency professionals, and members of the National Research Council panel on fluoride's toxicology, have signed the statement.
The report urges Congressional members to “recognize that fluoridation is outdated, has serious risks that far outweigh any minor benefits, violates sound medical ethics, and denies freedom of choice.”
It cites eight recent events that call for an urgent end to water fluoridation. Among them:
- A 500-page review of fluoride’s toxicology by the National Research Council of the National Academies, published in 2006.
- Evidence from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that found 32 percent of U.S. children have dental fluorosis, which is caused by fluoride.
- The American Dental Association’s 2006 policy change, which recommends not giving fluoridated water to infants for the first 12 months of life.
- A Harvard University study that found a five- to seven-fold increased risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer) among young men who were exposed to fluoride between the ages of 6 and 8.
- The CDC’s recognition that fluoride is beneficial in reducing tooth decay when it’s applied topically, not taken systemically.
The statement calls for members of Congress to sponsor a new Congressional Hearing on Fluoridation that requires those who continue to support water fluoridation to provide scientific basis, under oath, for their continued recommendations.
According to one of the statement’s signers, Dr. Arvid Carlsson, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Medicine, "Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology. It's really obsolete."
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