Florida fluoride is frenzy and teeth hurt

Before Florida denounces a lifelong toddler with rotten teeth, can we see back behind the curtains of hysteria on fluorinated water?

The move recently approached his home when the Hillsboro County Commission narrowly broke the move by Republican Commissioner Joshua Wastal to remove fluoride from the county’s drinking water. Since 1945, communities across the United States have added fluoride to the water. This is widely praised by dentists and public health professionals for improving overall health as children mature and mature into adults.

But Wostal cited the September ruling by a federal California judge. He determined that he poses a “unfair risk of injury” at 0.7 milligrams per 0.7 milligrams recommended by the federal government and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to “take regulatory measures.” Wostal said the “new legal decision” justified the removal of fluoride because it was “based on a load of empirical data from scientists and medical professionals with very high bars.”

First, there is only one ruling. This is rather calm on the appeal. And it is wrong to suggest that the science behind it met a “very high bar.” This misinformation leads communities across the state who have a knee bone response to removing fluoride from the water. Before others make that mistake, let’s take a look at what the judges found and what the research actually said.

The question in the court was not whether excessive fluoride posed a risk to public health. Everyone agreed that having too much fluoride at a certain level is dangerous. The question is, at what level is it okay? As the judge’s ruling admitted, “This finding has not concluded with certainty that fluorinated water is harmful to public health.” In fact, the courts distinguished between risk and risk. The judge directed to respond to the EPA, but he did not specify what the agency’s response should be. In January, the American Dental Association wrote alongside 12 other groups, describing the court’s decision as a “fundamental misconception” of the science surrounding fluorinated water. Later that month, the EPA appealed.

Now consider the science behind the judge’s decision. This was based on a federal review of numerous studies published in August by the National Toxicology Program on the association between high fluoride levels and lower IQ in children. Of these 74 studies, 52 (or more than two-thirds) were rated as low quality, resulting in a higher risk of bias. All studies were conducted outside the US in 10 countries, including China, Iran and Pakistan. In this review, we found only a link between lower IQ and fluoride levels at more than twice the US standard of 1.5 milligrams per liter “with moderate confidence.”

Importantly, this review found “inadequate data were found to determine whether the currently recommended low fluoride levels of 0.7 mg/L of the US water supply would negatively affect children’s IQ.” Also, “there is no evidence that fluoride exposure had a negative effect on adult perception.” The report concluded that “more research is needed” to determine health risks associated with lower fluoride exposure. In this review, its purpose was “not intended to assess the benefits of fluorides.”

This is the key point of Plainer English. Judges will issue hedged rulings without guidance or timing based on research allegedly examining fluorination at twice the US level. Medical experts were responsible for not only the verdict but the fundamental science. The Dental Association calls federal review research and conclusions “very unorthodox.” Federal studies acknowledged that it does not have a definitive answer, a flag of attention for policymakers. And the entire case is still in lawsuit. This is a cake of an elected staff member in Hillsboro, and elsewhere they call to end the fluorinated water.

If you want to check the safety of your fluoride, you should fine it. But that’s not the purpose of this frenzy. Wostal’s allegations at the Hillsboro Commission’s February 5 meeting were not to hold workshops, convening experts or voting for the latest scientific findings. He wanted to fluorinate the county’s water supply “quickly.” Republican commissioners Donna Cameron Cepeda and Christine Miller supported the move, which was killed in a tied vote thanks to Republicans Ken Hagan and Chris Boles and Democrat Harry Cohen.

Responsible adults have won the Hillsboro Commission, but the issue is alive and gaining momentum across the state. Over 70% of Floridians in Community Water Systems received fluorinated water in 2023, but coverage has been declining since November as at least 15 Florida water systems stopped fluorination. Facts and judicial records do not support this irresponsible rush. If politicians don’t do homework, the average Floridian should certainly.