Is Fluoride Bad for Your Health?
To achieve our modern comforts, many people had to discover toxins the hard way. Have we found them all, or will fluoride be the next poison to go down the drain?
Salvete! Step into Ancient Rome, meet my friend Luciius Cornelius Felix, and enjoy a glass of wine from his lead-lined kettle. Don’t worry—it’s totally safe and effective at keeping foods and beverages fresh! Cheers!
Now, let’s fast-forward to 1850s Victorian England. There’s little Georgie Gladstone buying sweets from the local candy shop again. He sure loves how those copper arsenite-infused treats glisten in the sun!
How about we sail across the pond to 1890s Midwest America and meet John Miller, the butcher? He’s busy preparing for the market, dusting his steaks with Borax to keep the flies away. Looks like the bugs know something John doesn’t!
Let’s skip ahead into the Roaring Twenties and have a drink with Mary O’Connell, a flapper girl with dreams of making it in the pictures. To keep her looking young, she sips a vodka tonic spiked with Radithor. To your health, Mary!
Next stop, July 20th, 1969. A young Mikey Davis excitedly drinks a soda fizzing with Red Dye #2 as he watches Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon's surface. Each swig one small sip for boy and a giant blunder for his future health.
Before returning to our own Roaring Twenties, let’s stop by the late 1980s and check on Jessica Johnson. She’s at the gas station grabbing a Mountain Dew on her way to work to keep her focused and awake. Best of all, the soda’s mixed with Brominated Vegetable Oil to keep the neon green color consistent.
Now, we’re back to the present. All that time travel sure made me thirsty. Luckily, the city added fluoride to the water supply to keep our teeth strong and healthy.
For our society to achieve modern comforts, many people had to discover the horrors of consuming lead, borax, Red Dye #2, and everything else the hard way.
Today, we tend to think we’ve weeded out ancient toxins and that everything we consume is safe.
But it appears many aren’t so sure, with several municipalities and even the State of Utah recently banning fluoride from water supplies.
Still, many experts write off such concerns as conspiracy theories. So, which is it?
Grab your canteens, toothbrushes, and tinfoil hats, and let’s test the waters.
Argument: Fluoride Is Not a Health Concern Overall
“The scientific evidence is strong and compelling. Several years ago, I wrote a research paper that examined a variety of concerns raised by opponents about the fluoride compounds used for water fluoridation. I found that there was no credible evidence to support these concerns. -Dr. Howard Pollick
Main Points
Dental Health Breakthrough
Low Risk, High Reward
No Evidence of Disease
Global Acceptance
Scientific Consensus
Point #1: Dental Health Breakthrough
You’ve been drinking and bathing in fluoridated water your whole life. In fact, Americans have fluoridated water supplies since 1945, when Grand Rapids, MI became the first city to start the tradition. Studies showed a 60% cavity drop after fluoridation began, and modern CDC data confirms a 25% reduction for children and adults.
Why is this suddenly a problem?
Point #2: Low Risk, High Reward
Too much of anything can be bad, and yes, fluoride can lead to sickness and death in rare cases. To achieve severe fluorosis, or excessive fluoride intake, one must consume between 40 and 80 mg/kg of fluoride. Of course, this depends on body weight and how quickly the fluoride is ingested.
That's why the CDC recommends a fluoride concentration of 0.7 mg/L, which is about three drops in a 55-gallon barrel. This makes it virtually impossible to die or even get sick from tap water.
Point #3: No Evidence of Chronic Health Issues
Long-term and excessive fluoride intake may cause dental fluorosis or tooth discoloration. However, five-year NHANES clinical data shows that less than 1% of people aged 6 to 49 experienced severe fluorosis.
Additionally, studies concluded that fluoride is not linked to cancer. While excessive fluoride use can impair brain development, overall research suggests that regulated levels in developed countries show little such risk.
Point #4: Global Acceptance
The US is not the only country fluoridating water. More than 70 nations consider water fluoridation a win. While fluorosis is reported at higher levels in China and India, it’s primarily due to naturally occurring fluoridation in groundwater that is not properly regulated, as in the US.
Point #5: Social Impact
The ADA, CDC, and WHO support water fluoridation at regulated levels with rigorous monitoring to ensure that the benefits outweigh the rare, minor risks. Banning fluoride would impact low-income communities that can’t afford regular dental care.
Just think of the savings for individuals, families, and the healthcare system overall.
Rebuttal: Fluoride Is a Health Concern Overall
I think fluoride is a poison -RFK Jr.
Main Points
IQ Decline
Bone Health
Thyroid Dysfunction
Uncontrolled Exposure
Mass Medication Ethics
Point #1: IQ Decline
Fluoride is dumbing the masses. In 2019, JAMA Pediatrics linked prenatal fluoride intake with lower IQ in kids reviewed at 3-4 years of age.
According to JAMA, “Fluoride exposure during pregnancy may be associated with adverse effects on child intellectual development, indicating the possible need to reduce fluoride intake during pregnancy.”
Point #2: Bone Health
The National Research Council found that lifetime fluoride exposure at a concentration of 4.0 mg/L is likely to increase bone fracture rates in the population.
While the CDC recommends fluoride concentrations of 0.7mg/L, the EPA enforceable standard is 4.0 mg/L, meaning municipalities won’t be fined for exceeding the CDC's recommendation by four times.
Multiple agencies and conflicting boundaries muddy the waters for consumers.
Point #3: Thyroid Dysfunction
A 2015 UK study found that elevated fluoride intake in both males and females increased the risk of hypothyroidism by 30%. Researchers concluded that reducing fluoride exposure must be given more significant consideration, and public health officials should advocate for topical fluoride application for dental care or non-fluoride interventions. A more recent study from 2024 suggests that high fluoride intake could impact thyroid function.
Point #4: Uncontrolled Exposure
Even if we consider the daily fluoride intake in tap water safe, this doesn’t account for the unknown levels from tea, processed foods, dental supplies, or naturally occurring fluoride in general water supplies, including well water.
Fluoride is everywhere. Do we really need it in tap water as well? Why not add Vitamin C or Omega 3s? Why not throw a barrel of Centrum in the grid?
Point #5: Mass Medication Ethics
Why is dental health such a concern for municipal water providers? While a 2014 Cochrane review found topical fluoride has dental benefits, forcing the population to ingest and bathe in it is an ethical red flag. Many people don’t consent or even know what they’re putting in their bodies, let alone the negative health impacts.
Critics of fluoride bans warn of the following dental health decline, but if you go to the grocery store, there is an entire aisle devoted to dental care.
That’s why RFK Jr. is pushing for a national ban. States like Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina may follow Utah’s example and remove the suspected toxin from their grids.
Cheers to Your Health!
The Romans, at least some of them, were aware of the health risks associated with lead intake, noting that lead pipe layers had paler skin than those working with clay. But Lucius Cornelius was more concerned with wine preservation. He’d die of a stroke at 50.
By the mid-19th century, suspicions arose throughout England that arsenic-based products such as paint, wallpaper, and candy were poisonous. But confectioners, clothing manufacturers, and, of course, young children couldn’t resist its stunning hues. Georgie Gladstone never reached adolescence. Color me shocked.
In John Miller the butcher’s time, people already suspected Borax might be bad for your health, but its use as a preservative was too good to pass up for some conspiracy theory. For many food handlers and meat consumers, it would cost them their health.
Suspicion about Radithor bubbled in the 1920s, but many still used it for its health benefits. Public fear set in when the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off,” in 1932. Sadly for Mary O’Connel, she never made the pictures— or her thirties. Her body was so radioactive that they buried her in a lead-lined coffin.
While the Russians didn’t beat us to the moon, they did ban Red Dye #2 after finding it caused tumors in rats before the US took action. The FDA didn’t catch up until 1976, which was too late for people like Mikey Davis.
As early as 1969, Canadians suspected Bromenated Vegetable Oil of being harmful after lab rat testing, and the UK banned it in 1970. However, American companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola did not remove the toxin from their products until 2014 after public pressure, and it wasn’t banned until 2024. Heavy citrus drink consumers like Jessica Johnson paid a heavy price.
The saddest part of these situations is that such victims likely had no clue what they were ingesting, even if some people of their time did. For every one person spouting “conspiracy theories,” ten more would tell them it was “safe and effective.”
Organizations like the CDC, ADA, and WHO might get behind fluoride, but this appeal to authority doesn’t hold as much water as it did just a few years ago.
If the added controversial compound isn’t designed to fight cavities, then what is it for? Some say the powers that be want to make people dumber. Others say it keeps us sick. Maybe both.
Either way, if banned, should we expect Bromenated Vegetable Oil and fluoride to be the last toxins removed from our daily consumables?
History suggests no, and RFK Jr. might make 2025 a watershed moment for the fluoride fad.
Meme of the Week
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Through the Freedom Island book Club, children ages 4 to 12 can enjoy meaningful stories by authors such as Riley Gaines, Kevin Sorbo, and Kirk Cameron.
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American of the Week: 1st Lieutenant Larry L. Taylor
On September 5, 2023, Captain Larry L. Taylor received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on June 18, 1968, in Vietnam. Commanding two Cobra helicopters, he braved intense enemy fire to save a four-man patrol team that was surrounded near Ap Go Cong.
For 45 minutes, Taylor and his wingman delivered devastating fire, used illumination tactics, and distracted the enemy. Running low on fuel and ammunition, he made a daring decision to extract the team using his two-man helicopter—a first—landing under fire and evacuating them to safety, undoubtedly saving their lives. Taylor passed away on January 28, 2024, in Signal Mountain, TN.
Thanks for your latest bulletin Greg, full of interesting facts as usual 👏👏
The obituary for Lt Larry L Taylor was most interesting, what a hero ♥️
Cheers buddy 👍👍
That was genius comparing different poisons across the years we never knew were harming us until too late. Probably a drop in the bucket! The sooner we are rid of fluoride the better off we will be. Thanks for a great article 👍