The ADA and 12 other groups are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to appeal a court ruling for the agency to further regulate the fluoridation of public water systems.
A group of citizen petitioners sued the EPA after it denied a petition to stop community water fluoridation. The petitioners claim it diminishes neurocognitive health, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in their favor Sept. 24, with Senior District Judge Edward M. Chen ordering the EPA to “engage with a regulatory response.”
“Given the seriousness of reduced IQ, and the ample support in the record that the United States population is at risk of experiencing IQ decrements of over four IQ points, the severity of the hazard at issue weights in favor of finding the risk at issue unreasonable,” reads the ruling, which notes that the finding did not “conclude with certainty” that fluoridated water is harmful to public health.