How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep It There.When the U.S. Public Health Service endorsed water fluoridation in
1950, there was little evidence of its safety. Now, six decades later
and after most countries have rejected the practice, more than 70
percent of Americans, as well as 200 million people worldwide, are
drinking fluoridated water. The Center for Disease Control and the
American Dental Association continue to promote it--and even mandatory
statewide water fluoridation--despite increasing evidence that it is not
only unnecessary, but potentially hazardous to human health.
In this timely and important book, Dr. Paul Connett, Dr. James Beck,
and Dr. H. Spedding 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 doesn't mean it's safe.
In the case of water fluoridation, the chemicals that go into the
drinking water that more than 180 million people drink each day are not
even pharmaceutical grade, but rather a hazardous waste product of the
phosphate fertilizer 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 program receives no oversight from
the Food and Drug 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.
Painstakingly documented and also highly readable, The Case Against Fluoride brings
new research to light, including links between fluoride and harm to the
brain, bones, and endocrine system, and argues that the evidence that
fluoridation reduces tooth decay is surprisingly weak.
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