Fluoridation of the U.S. public water supply has been a polarizing topic both academically and politically since its start in the 1940s. Debate over its benefits and health risks has raged on as the science has continued to unfold.
This series will explore the contentious findings surrounding this ubiquitous public health measure and answer the question of whether water fluoridation poses a risk and what we should do about it.
The fluoride added to the public water supply of more than 73 percent of the U.S. population isn’t naturally occurring, and that creates added risk. This fluoride is derived primarily as a chemical byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer and aluminum production industries. It would be deemed as pollution if it escaped into the air or was dumped into a landfill.
Rebecca Hanmer, former deputy assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water, noted that reality in a letter she wrote in 1983 (pdf):
