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Court tells EPA to consider fluoride risk

The decision could reshape a landmark public health program, but critics say the move is based on flimsy science.

“As the literature continued to accumulate, we were more and more convinced that there were no single flaws that could explain the consistency in the findings,” John Bucher, a retired NTP toxicologist and a lead author of the report, told Undark in an interview conducted late last year. In August, after years of delays, the NTP released its final report, finding, with moderate confidence, that fluoride exposures at levels above 1.5 mg/L “are consistently associated with lower IQ in children.” Reached by phone two days after the ruling, Paul Connett, the founding director of the Fluoride Action Network, was declaring victory: “The two nails in the coffin were put with the NTP review and our court case.”

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