The Case against Fluoride: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep It There

About the Book

When the US Public Health Service endorsed water fluoridation in 1959, there was little evidence of its safety. Now, siz decades later and after most countries have rejected the practice, more than 70 per cent of Americans, as well as 200 million people worldwide, are drinking fluoridated water. The Centre for Disease Control and the American Dental Association continue to promote it - and even support mandatory state-wide water fluoridation - despite increasing evidence that it is not only unnecessary, but potentially hazardous to humans. In this timely and important book, Drs Connett, Beck and 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 does not mean it is safe. In the case of water fluoridation, the chemicals that go into the drinking water than more than 180 million people drink each day are not even pharmaceutical grade, but rather a hazardous waste product of the phosphate fertiliser 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 programme receives no oversight from the Food and Drugs 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.

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Table of Contents:

Part 1. Ethical and general arguments against fluoridation : Poor medical practice ; An inappropriate and inefficient practice ; The chemicals used ; Who is in charge? ; An experimental program
Part 2. The evidence that fluoridation is ineffective : Fluoridation and tooth decay ; The early evidence reexamined ; Key modern studies
Part 3. The great fluoridation gamble : The great fluoridation gamble, 1930-1950 ; The great fluoridation gamble, 1950-
Part 4. The evidence of harm : Dental fluorosis ; Fluoride's chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology ; Fluoride poisoning of humans: early reversible effects ; The 2006 National Research Council Report ; Fluoride and the brain ; Fluoride and the endocrine system ; Fluoride and bone ; Fluoride and osteosarcoma ; Fluoride and the kidneys, and other health issues
Part 5. Margin of safety and the precautionary principle : Margin of safety ; The precautionary principle
Part 6. The promoters and the techniques of promotion : Weak and inadequate science ; Promoters' strategies and tactics ; Self-serving governmental reviews ; A response to pro-fluoridation claims ; The promoters' motivations -- Review and conclusion
Appendix 1: Fluoride and the brain
Appendix 2: Fluoride and bone

About the Author :
Dr Paul Connett, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Chemistry at St Lawrence University, has given more than 2000 presentations on the issue of waste management. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in chemistry from Dartmouth College. He is currently the director of the Fluoride Action Network and lives in Canton, New York. Dr James Beck is Professor Emeritus of Medical Biophysics at the University of Calgary and holds a doctorate in medicine from Washington University School of Medicine and biophysics from the University of California Berkeley. he lives in Calgary, Canada. Dr H. Spedding Micklem is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. He holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford. Dr Micklem lives in Edinburgh.

Review :
"This volume will quickly become the most trusted compendium of evidence and argument critical of fluoridation worldwide - and quite right too." The Scientific & Medical Network - Feb 2011 "If you are interested in the fluoride debate you should read this book. However, more importantly, if you are disinterested in the fluoridation of drinking water or are strongly pro-fluoridation, you must also read it." Caduceus - February 2011