Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: Experts Say Fluoridated Water Not Safe to Drink
As Americans wait to hear the outcome of a federal court’s ruling on water fluoridation, corporate fact checkers are attempting to confuse the public. Let’s fact check the “fact checkers”.
As Americans wait to hear the outcome of a federal court’s ruling on water fluoridation, corporate fact checkers are attempting to confuse the public. Let’s fact check the “fact checkers”.
On the final day of the lawsuit between the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a “fact check” was released in an attempt to quell public concern regarding the dangers of water fluoridation. The so-called fact check, CDC, Experts Say Fluoridated Water Is Safe, Contrary to RFK Jr.’s Warnings, reiterated what Americans have heard for the last 80 years: water fluoridation is safe and helps reduce cavities. Anyone who says otherwise is simply some nut on the internet who doesn’t understand science.
FactCheck.org wasted no time letting the reader know that trustworthy institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and “multiple expert groups” want you to know that fluoride is totally safe and good for America. These groups include the American Dental Association, who is one of the original promoters of this practice, and certainly an organization that stands to lose if the public rejects fluoride as safe.
As indicated in the title, FactCheck.org was focused on tweets from independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including one from February 4th where he said, “As president. I’m going to order the CDC to take every step necessary to remove neurotoxic fluoride from American drinking water.”
FactCheck.org also took issue with a tweet from Jason Bassler, co-founder of The Free Thought Project independent media website, and now also part of the TLAV team. Bassler’s tweet was also posted on Instagram by other accounts. Neither of the accounts attracted more than 1,500 likes. The website took particular issue with his statement that “multiple studies confirm fluoride is a neurotoxin that violates the Toxic Substances Control Act and reduces IQ in kids.”
According to FactCheck.org, the data on water fluoridation and neurotoxicity are “less clear-cut” than the social media posts claimed. Let’s take a look at their claims and statements by government officials, and compare them to what we heard in the fluoride lawsuit.
Authority Bias
From the outset it appears obvious that FactCheck.org has a bias for supporting the government’s positions, and thus, arguing in defense of government policy. Rather than simply looking at the data as it stands and drawing conclusions, FactCheck.org operates as a mouth piece for the U.S. government’s position.
For example, they start off by acknowledging that “some studies” have found an association between higher fluoride exposure during pregnancy and lower IQ in children. However, they choose to include a pretty massive caveat. Namely, that many of the studies on fluoride are “done in areas of the world with naturally high levels of fluoride in their water supplies well above the optimally recommended level”. Unfortunately, this is only partially true.
While many of the recent reviews of the peer reviewed literature on fluoride include studies which did examine levels of water fluoridation above the level recommended by the CDC, researchers also examined studies relating to fluoride concentrations similar to what Americans experience.
This includes a newly published review of the evidence on the potential human health effects of fluoride conducted by Risk Sciences International under a contract with Health Canada, the federal public health agency for Canada. Health Canada is currently developing a water fluoridation policy for Canada.
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The RSI report concluded, “the evidence supports a conclusion that fluoride exposure reduces IQ levels in children at concentrations close to those seen in North American drinking water”. The report did acknowledge there is uncertainty about at which exact concentration harm begins.
Expert Vs Expert
FactCheck.org goes on to say that “many scientific experts” have concluded the evidence for the association between water fluoridation and lower IQ is “weak”. They correctly note that the EPA’s position, as evidenced throughout the fluoride lawsuit, is essentially that the evidence isn’t strong or consistent enough to draw conclusions about the impact of water fluoridation at lower levels.
This was the same position being offered by EPA’s expert witnesses during the lawsuit. Dr. David Savitz and Dr. Stanley Barone did their best to offer unclear, winding non-answers when asked simple questions by Judge Chen or FAN attorneys. While it might be technically accurate to say that some scientific experts have found the association between fluoride and lower IQ to be weak, this does not acknowledge that there are scientists — including some currently working for the U.S. government — who believe the evidence is overwhelmingly strong. FactCheck.org would rather the reader believe that the U.S. government’s scientific agencies are of one voice on this topic.
FactCheck.org does concede that drinking fluoride is not necessary for babies, but they claim the only “small risk” is dental fluorosis. They also state that, according to the CDC, experts have already concluded there is not an association between recommended levels of water fluoridation and “any other negative health impacts”.
Yes, you read that right. The CDC and the fact checkers are claiming there are no negative health impacts associated with water fluoridation. None.
However, while I was attending the lawsuit I had the opportunity to interview three of the expert witnesses providing testimony for the Fluoride Action Network and plaintiffs.
The first expert I spoke with was Dr. Howard Hu, the principal investigator in the Mexico ELEMENT study, a pregnancy and birth cohort on fluoride’s impact on neurobehavioral development. Hu’s research was funded by the EPA and the National Institutes of Health. Hu has also been involved in research on lead toxicity and anti-social behavior.
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Is there anything the government says that is accurate? Better to assume nothing is, even though it may be right on the rare occasion. People are drinking this poison. It is unconscionable how depraved government is yet so many simply accept what government says is true without proof, yet someone challenges it with mountains of proof and they are ignored for years.