The Fluoride Wars

A lively account of fluoridation and its discontents Since its first implementation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945, public drinking water fluoridation and its attendant conflicts, controversies, and conspiracy theories serve as an object lesson in American science, public health, and policymaking. In addition to the arguments on the issue still raging today, the tale of fluoridation and its discontents also resonates with such present concerns as genetically modified foods, global warming response, nuclear power, and environmental regulation. Offering the best current thinking on the issue, The Fluoride Wars presents a witty and detailed social history of the fluoridation debate in America, illuminating the intersection of science and politics in our recent past. This reader-friendly assessment explores the pro- and anti-fluoridation movements, key players, and important events. Full of amusing and vivid anecdotes and examples, this accessible recounting includes: A careful and non-condescending look at the hard science, popular science, pseudo-science, and junk science involved A look at fluoride issues including dosage, cost, financial and funding interests, fluorosis, and problems of risk-cost-benefit analysis The back-and-forth drama between pro- and anti-fluoridation factions, with all its claims, counterclaims, insults, acrimony, and lawsuits Case studies of various cities and their experiences with municipal water fluoridation initiatives Fluorophobia and popular conspiracy theories involving fluoride The colorful characters in the debate including activists, scientists, magicians, and politicians A richly and considerately told tale of American science and public life, The Fluoride Wars offers an engrossing history to both interested general readers and specialists in public health, dentistry, policymaking, and related fields.

With the narrative punch of Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action and the commitment to environmental truth-telling of Erin Brockovich, The Fluoride Deception documents a powerful connection between big corporations, the U.S. military, and the historic reassurances of fluoride safety provided by the nation’s public health establishment. The Fluoride Deception reads like a thriller, but one supported by two hundred pages of source notes, years of investigative reporting, scores of scientist interviews, and archival research in places such as the newly opened files of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission. The book is nothing less than an exhumation of one of the great secret narratives of the industrial era: how a grim workplace poison and the most damaging environmental pollutant of the cold war was added to our drinking water and toothpaste.

This book comprises select papers presented at the International Conference on Trends and Recent Advances in Civil Engineering (TRACE 2020). This book covers papers on contemporary renewable energy and environmental technologies which include water purification, water distribution network, use of solar energy for electricity production, waste management, greening of buildings and air quality analysis. In all, twenty-three papers have been selected for publication. It is believed that this book will be useful to a fairly wide spectrum of audience like researchers, application engineers and industry managers.

In the case of water fluoridation, the chemicals used to fluoridate the water that more than 180 million people drink each day are not pharmaceutical grade, but rather hazardous waste products of the phosphate fertilizer industry; it is illegal to dump them into rivers and lakes or release them into the atmosphere. And water fluoridation is a prime example of one of the worst medical practices possible-forced medication with no control over the dose or who gets it. Perhaps most shocking of all, it is not subject to any federal regulation. At once 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 kidneys, and argues that while there is possible value in topical applications like brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste, the evidence that swallowing fluoride reduces tooth decay is surprisingly weak.

Fluoride is more toxic than lead, yet it is routinely added to the drinking water of Ireland and Britain. In Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death?, Barry Groves presents an array of convincing and persuasive arguments that dismantle the commonly held belief that the fluoridation of water is beneficial to our health. The fluoridation of water has been used for the prevention of tooth decay for over fifty years. During this time little research has been done to ascertain whether it works. The chemicals used are classified as toxic industrial waste, yet no study has ever been conducted into their safety for human consumption. At the same time, research has uncovered serious side effects including death, cancer, skeletal fluorosis, osteoporosis, dementia, lowered IQ, kidney damage and even increased dental decay. Fluoride is only slightly less toxic than arsenic and all the evidence points incontrovertibly to the harm caused by fluoride to human, plant and animal life. Yet it is routinely added to the drinking water of five million people in Britain and more than two and a half million people in Ireland. Strongly opposed throughout the world, water fluoridation is far less widely accepted than its proponents would have us believe. Only two percent of the people of Western Europe have their water fluoridated — almost all of them within Britain and Ireland. Despite this, dental organisations lobby governments to compel everyone to ingest fluoride, whether they want it or not and without regard to possible harm. The vast majority of dentists maintain that the fluoridation of water is not debatable. In this book, Barry Groves assembles evidence to refute every single argument made by the dental establishment in favour of fluoridation. This carefully researched and persuasively written book demonstrates that the case for fluoridation of water is based on poor science and dogmatic ignorance rather than on any scientifically proven benefit to public health. His conclusions are truly alarming for everyone concerned with their own health, that of their families and of society in general. Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death?: Table of Contents Introduction - Water Fluoridation - Fluoride and Water Safety - Cancer and Fluoride - Safe Limit for Fluoride - Research into Fluoride - Fluoridation and High Infant Mortality - Fluoride as a Cumulative Poison - Fluoride Kills - People at Risk from Fluoride - EPA Scientists and Fluoride - Support for Fluoridation Diminishes in America - The Totality of Fluoride - The Ethics and Legality of Fluoridation - Dental Fluorosis - The Dose Makes the Poison - Fluoride-Related Bone Problems, Part One - Fluoride-Related Bone Problems, Part Two - The Death of Science - The Poor and Fluoride Toxicity - Sugar and Truth Decay - Money Down the Drain - The History of Water Fluoridation, Part One - Arsenic and Old Lies - The History of Water Fluoridation, Part Two - Dentrifrice — or Rodenticide? - Europe Against Fluoride - Skeletal Fluorosis - The Public and Fluoride - Legislating for Fluoride - Fluoride Not an Essential Nutrient - Fluoride and Controversy - The UK Review: The Final Word on Fluoride? - Are You at Risk?Conclusion Appendix: Scientific Opposition to Fluoride