NEW YORK, June 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Top experts in children’s brain development were scheduled to lead off testimony Monday in a groundbreaking case that challenges the nation’s water fluoridation program, according to the Fluoride Action Network (FAN).
Pre-filed “Declarations” of Drs. Howard Hu and Bruce Lanphear, both medical doctors and research scientists, make clear that their robust studies indicate that fluoride has the potential to lower the IQ of children.
Hu and Lanphear are the initial witnesses in a two-week Zoom trial in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. FAN, Food and Water Watch, Moms Against Fluoridation and several individuals are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the addition of fluoridation chemicals to public water supplies because they pose an unreasonable risk to children’s brains.
What highly favors the Plaintiff’s case against the EPA here is that this agency has relied on both of these experts. Dr. Lanphear is the EPA’s “go-to-man” on lead’s neurotoxicity, and his work shaped their lead standards. In the case of Dr. Howard Hu, the EPA partially funded his groundbreaking work on fluoride.
The trial kicks off today at 11am (East Coast time) with Judge Edward M. Chen presiding. The trial will be held via Zoom, with the public allowed to tune in. The trial will continue Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday during the coming two weeks. The court schedule is found here, with the details for Zoom.
Originating with a petition to the EPA in 2016, the case falls under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The trial breaks new ground by challenging fluoridation, a 70-year-old public health measure affecting more than 200 million Americans served by public water systems. It is also the first time a trial based on a Citizen Petition has gone to Federal trial.
According to Paul Connett, PhD, Director of FAN, “It has taken us 20 years to get to this moment. A victory here would have huge ramifications in terms of protecting children’s brains, not only in the USA but also in the handful of other countries that still fluoridate their water.”
Lawyers Michael Connett and C. Andrew Waters of Waters Kraus and Paul of El Segundo, Calif. represent the plaintiffs, while Environmental Defense Section of the Department of Justice represents the EPA.
A press kit providing further information on the case is at http://fluoridealert.org/issues/tsca-fluoride-trial/
*Original Press Release online at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neurotoxicity-experts-lead-off-federal-fluoridation-trial-301072045.html
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