A federal judge in California has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to further regulate fluoride in drinking water due to concerns over its potential impact on children’s intellectual development. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled on Tuesday that the scientific evidence of fluoride’s health risks when ingested at current prescribed levels requires stricter regulation under the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
In his 80-page ruling, Judge Chen stated there is “little dispute” over whether fluoride is hazardous and ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk. He did not specify what those measures should be. “Indeed, EPA’s own expert agrees that fluoride is hazardous at some level of exposure,” the judge said. “And ample evidence establishes that a mother’s exposure to fluoride during pregnancy is associated with IQ decrements in her offspring.”
Judge Chen’s ruling does not conclude that fluoridated water is injurious to public health but rather that there is an unreasonable risk of such injury, a risk sufficient to require the EPA to engage with a regulatory response. The judge left the specifics of that response up to the EPA.
Fluoride has been added to municipal water for decades to prevent tooth decay. Currently, more than 200 million Americans, or about 75 percent of the population, drink fluoridated water. However, the health impact of fluoride has been the subject of significant debate.
The case was brought by Food and Water Watch, an advocacy organization that petitioned the EPA to investigate lowered IQs in children allegedly caused by fluoride. The EPA denied the group’s 2016 petition calling for the agency to ban or limit the fluoridation of drinking water.
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