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Mr. Connett is lead plaintiff counsel in a landmark federal lawsuit over the neurotoxicity of water fluoridation, brought against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The lawsuit, which resumed today after a four-year hiatus, seeks to ban the addition of fluoride to water.

The federal court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco set aside nine days for testimony and cross-examination of experts and fact witnesses.

On yesterday's episode of the “Kim Iversen Show,” Mr. Connett discussed the case and explained why it is so important. He said :

“We now have data – high-quality data funded by the NIH [National Institutes of Health] – that links maternal fluoride exposure to IQ deficits… that's really what we're all about in justice.

The Court has only one question to ask, and that is: “Does fluoridation present an unreasonable risk of neurodevelopmental effects? If the court decides that this is the case, then the EPA will be mandated by law to take action to address this risk.

Although the court cannot tell the EPA how to address the risk, the EPA has the authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act to ban fluoridation.

“If we win,” Mr. Connett said, “and if EPA does what logic seems to dictate – namely whether its obligation is to eliminate the risk posed by fluoridation chemicals – then the obvious way to “to achieve this is to prohibit this practice”.

Currently, the choice of water fluoridation rests with states and local governments. But if the EPA bans this practice, “no municipality, even if it wishes, will be able to fluoridate its water because the EPA will be the highest authority on the matter”.

Today, more than 200 million Americans in thousands of communities drink fluoridated water.

Most major cities, including Los Angeles, where Kim Iversen lives, fluoridate their water. “I definitely don’t want to drink fluoride anymore,” Ms. Iversen said.

On January 13, Children's Health Defense (CHD) released a documentary titled “Fluoride on Trial: The Censored Science on Fluoride and Your Health,” in which Michael Connett and CHD President Mary Holland discuss the suppression of scientific research revealing the toxic effects of fluoride, particularly on children.

Mr Connett also discussed this deletion with Ms Iversen.

For example, when the National Toxicology Program (NTP) conducted a systematic review and concluded in its 1573-page report that 64 of 72 studies showed a link between fluoride and lower IQ, dental officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NIH's National Institute of Facial Dental and Cranial Research pressured the U.S. Department of Human Services' Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, to prevent the report's release.

Ms. Levine asked the NPT not to release the report, but to put it on hold and subject it to further review.

“You don’t even have to swallow it”

Although other chemicals like chlorine are added to public water for water treatment purposes, fluoride is the only chemical added for medical purposes – in this case, to prevent tooth decay in people who drink the water, Mr. Connett said.

Water fluoridation is “a program born in the United States,” he told Ms. Iversen. Europe explored the idea of ​​adding fluoride to water to prevent cavities, but decided against it because it violates people's right to informed consent.

He said :

“Europe said you shouldn't add medicine to the water because it takes away the individual's right to make their own health decisions, to give informed consent. And in Europe, as in the United States, there are certainly a lot of fluoridated products on the shelves, like toothpaste, that anyone can buy at the pharmacy or grocery store.”

Connett said research shows fluoride can be used to prevent tooth decay by applying it to teeth. “There is no need to swallow it.”

Could other substances be added to our water?

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