Eliminating Fluoride in Drinking Water: The Real Issue
January 8, 2025
It was in 1945 that public water systems began adding fluoride to drinking water because it supposedly prevented cavities. By 1980, half of the American population was consuming fluoridated water.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services—wants to change that.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Fluoride is a chemical ion of fluorine, which is the 13th most common element in the earth’s crust. It is naturally found in almost all soil and water and many rocks. It is released into the environment when rocks or soil containing fluoride are dissolved by water. It can also be released from volcanic emissions or through man-made processes.
Fluoride combines with outer enamel tooth layers, preventing cavities by making teeth stronger and more resistant to decay. Almost all water contains some naturally occurring fluoride, but usually at levels too low to prevent cavities. Many communities add a small amount of fluoride to the water supply to prevent cavities and promote good oral health.
The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that community water systems add fluoride to drinking water.
But according to RFK: “Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.” He maintains that the Trump administration will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from drinking water.
RFK is not alone. Opposition to water systems adding fluoride to drinking water has existed since the very beginning. And now,
A federal review published in August by the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health concluded higher levels of fluoride are linked to lowered IQ in children.
A federal judge in September ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to take additional measures to regulate fluoride in drinking water because of a possible risk that higher levels of the mineral could affect children’s intellectual development.
Yet, the American Dental Association (ADA) still says that “studies prove water fluoridation continues to be effective in reducing dental decay by at least 25% in children and adults, even in the of era widespread availability of fluoride from other sources, such as fluoride toothpaste.” Fluoride is “the single most effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay.”
So, do the monetary and medical costs of fluoridation outweigh its benefits? Is adding fluoride to water both safe and effective? Is fluoridation really necessary now that we have toothpaste with fluoride? Does it really matter whether fluoride is added since most people drink bottled water?
None of these things matter.
Fluoride should never be added to drinking water by municipal water systems, but not because it is dangerous, unnecessary, unhealthy, an industrial waste, toxic, or doesn’t actually prevent cavities. And it should not be added even if is the opposite of these things and is wanted by the public.
Fluoride is not a disinfectant like chlorine. It is a medication, a medication that the government requires everyone to take because bureaucrats believe it will benefit a particular segment of the population.
And as the late economist Murry Rothbard wrote back in 1992:
Compulsory mass medication is medically evil, as well as socialistic. It is starkly clear that one key to any medication is control of the dose: Different people, at different stages of risk, need individual dosages tailored to their needs. And yet with water compulsorily fluoridated, the dose applies to everyone, and is necessarily proportionate to the amount of water one drinks.
It is not the job of government—at any level—to medicate anyone for any reason or to recommend, encourage, or force any supplier of public drinking water to do so. Period.
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