“In regard to the use of fluosilicic acid as a source of fluoride for fluoridation, this Agency regards such use as an ideal environmental solution to a long-standing problem. By recovering by-product fluosilicic acid from fertilizer manufacturing, water, and air pollution are minimized, and water utilities have a low-cost source of fluoride available to them.”
Man-made fluorides come with a problem, however: contaminants.
Arsenic Toxicity
Arsenic toxicity depends on the dose and duration of exposure.Like fluoride, arsenic is both naturally occurring and an industrial waste byproduct. It’s present in air, water, soil, food, and pesticides. It’s also a contaminant in the FSA added to the public drinking water supply.
From Ambivalence to Activism
For Mueller, the discovery of arsenic in the water supply was life-changing.“I was previously neutral on the fluoridation issue, but after reviewing previous purchase agreements with the city’s FSA supplier at the time, the Mosaic fertilizer company in Florida, and reviewing certificates of analysis over several years of semi-monthly deliveries, I quickly learned that arsenic is in every shipment of FSA from regular suppliers,” Mueller said.
The EPA first determines a maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) for contaminants. The EPA’s definition of an MCLG is “the maximum level of a contaminant in drinking water at which no known or anticipated adverse effect on the health of persons would occur, allowing an adequate margin of safety.”
MCLGs are nonenforceable public health goals.
The EPA’s MCLG for arsenic is zero, as it’s a toxic chemical agent and a known human carcinogen by multiple paths of exposure.
Following the establishment of the MCLG, the enforceable regulatory maximum contaminant level (MCL) is then established.
The MCL for arsenic is 10 parts per billion (ppb); Mueller explained that his job included ensuring the treated water leaving the treatment plants met the regulatory requirements.
“My first reaction was, ‘OK, we are diluting it so it is below the MCL, so we are not in violation of regulatory requirements,’” Mueller said.
He said that those who work in such positions have “a regulatory compliance mindset.”
“As long as we are regulatory compliant and not violating any of the regulatory [maximum] contaminant levels (MCL), we are good,” he said of his reasoning at the time.
“We can send our annual report out to all our consumers saying we meet the requirements and the water is safe to drink because these are the standards that have been established by the federal government.”
This is the foundation of your job, he said.
It wasn’t long after Mueller realized that arsenic is typically found in FSA as a contaminant that he decided he could no longer stand by quietly and not take action.
“When you get an engineering license, one of the underlying tenets of the profession is that you hold paramount the public health, safety, and welfare,” he said.
Arsenic contamination in FSA conflicted with his adherence to that tenet, he said.
“Knowingly contaminating the public drinking water with a recognized, documented carcinogen and neurotoxin with an assigned MCLG of zero—as with arsenic—is a violation of not only the spirit and intent of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act but also the public trust,” he said.
Mueller noted that the pro-fluoridationists will claim, and correctly, that the FSA is diluted to such a degree that the ending concentration of arsenic is below the enforceable regulatory MCL of 10 ppb.
“But they cannot claim that it is safe for human consumption, not with an MCLG of zero, even though the added arsenic is destined for dilution and therefore not a violation of water quality regulations,“ he said. ”Legal does not equal safe.”
Costly and Wasteful
Issues of arsenic aside, water fluoridation may not even be the most economical way to prevent cavities, Mueller notes.Based on his knowledge of water use versus water consumption, he said that when you break down the numbers, in a large municipality with domestic, commercial, and industrial water users, more than 99.5 percent of the fluoride that goes into the drinking water to prevent tooth decay never sees a single tooth.
Instead, it’s used for washing laundry, watering lawns, showers, and flushing the toilet.
“I think we really need to do away with fluoridation and replace it with programs that are far more effective and are targeted to the underserved and economically depressed areas where oral health care is needed most. Right now, fluoridation is going to everybody, rich or poor, whether they need it or not,” Mueller said.
Over the years, Mueller has continued to be a strong voice, calling for change and policy revision of the public water fluoridation program. He has spoken at more than a dozen public meetings with the EPA, CDC, and White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Although Mueller is now retired, he says the concern around arsenic contamination of the fluoride added to the U.S. water supply still remains, and there’s now greater concern as smaller utilities now import their fluoridation chemicals from China.
Present-Day Concerns
Mueller notes that it’s his understanding Mosaic is no longer a direct supplier, as it sold much of its FSA business to Univar Solutions.They offer both products made from processing phosphates as well as high-purity quartz.
Their HFS product page says that the arsenic levels in their standard HFS ranged from 10 to 50 ppm or greater, with no maximum cap identified. The arsenic level for their high-purity HFS is below 5 ppm.
The Epoch Times reached out to Univar Solutions with questions regarding which product level is most widely bought by U.S. water suppliers but it didn’t respond by press time.
Mueller highlighted that smaller water utilities often fluoridate their water with powdered sodium fluoride delivered in sacks, which are commonly imported from China.
“In these cases, there is a concern with quality control measures being largely unknown to ensure safety for human consumption,” Mueller said.