On September 24, 2024 a US Federal court ruled in favour of Food and Water Watch, et al. in their proceedings against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
After 7 years of legal action against the EPA over the risk posed to the developing brain by the practice of water fluoridation, the United States District Court of the Northern District of California deemed fluoridation an "unreasonable risk" to the health of children. Judge Chen wrote:
... the Court finds Plaintiffs have met their burden in establishing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that community water fluoridation at 0.7 mg/L presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health under Amended TSCA and that the EPA is thus obliged to take regulatory action in response.
During the trial, testimony provided by Philippe Grandjean, Howard Hu co-author of the Bashash (2017, 2018) studies and Bruce Lanphear, co-author of the Green (2019) and Till (2020) studies. The judge delayed his ruling until he had in his hands the final report of the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) review on fluoride’s neurotoxicity and the Grandjean (et al) Benchmark Dose (BMD) Analysis.
EPA appeal of Decision
The EPA did not challenge the merits of the court's findings, but focused instead on procedural issues, including EPA's view that the court should have ignored a series of groundbreaking new studies on fluoride and IQ, including the one by their own NTP. EPA argues the court should have ignored this new data because EPA did not have it in its possession back in 2017.
Plaintiffs' response: EPA to protect the public, not to protect the EPA from the public
On November 17, 2025, the attorneys for the plaintiffs filed their response, explaining that the purpose of the law at issue (the Toxic Substances Control Act) is "to protect the public, not to protect the EPA from the public." The court was thus amply justified in considering and acting upon the new research, including the NTP report that even EPA conceded was "indisputably central" to reaching a correct decision. Read the brief here.
Below is sworn testimony from Casey Hannan, the then Director of CDC’s Division of Oral Health, regarding early life exposure to fluoride. He acknowledges that the CDC has no data that would establish the safety of fluoride’s effect on the brain, despite a growing body of evidence showing that fluoride is a developmental neurotoxin.
![FLUORIDE DANGERS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT [with Michael Connett] - 2024](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v7R0vW2vQFM/maxresdefault.jpg)