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A Story of Scientific Integrity: FAN & The National Toxicology Program
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Since its founding in 2000, the Fluoride Action Network has committed to being a credible, science-based authority on fluoride toxicity and the practice of water fluoridation. We take this commitment very seriously, despite fraudulent claims by the promoters of fluoridation attacking us as “conspiracy theorists” relying on “cherry-picked studies” and “internet misinformation.” This is intended to stifle debate and distract from the science. A quick comparison of the databases and extensive references on FAN’s website to those found (or mostly not found) on the websites of the American Fluoridation Society (AFS) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows that the accusations made by our opponents are actually projections of their own behavior.

I’d like to share a story that speaks directly to FAN’s scientific integrity and credibility. But first, a quick update on our annual fundraiser. The battle to end fluoridation isn’t over yet. The dental lobby is panicking and using misinformation to double-down in support of the practice. But with your help, the next year could be the most important and successful in the 80-year history of our movement! Your donation to our 2025 budget could play a direct role in deciding the future of water fluoridation.

Fundraising Update

Since Monday, we’ve raised $1,700 from 17 donors, bringing our current total to $7,835 from 94 donors on our way to our goal of raising $140,000 from 700 donors by midnight on December 31st. A big thank you to all who have helped.


How to Make a Tax-Deductible Donation:

FAN is Mentioned in the NTP Monograph

As many of you know, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) published its landmark systematic review on fluoride neurotoxicity this past August, after 8 years of work that included an unprecedented number of peer reviews. The report found a “large body” of evidence that fluoride exposure is “consistently associated with lower IQ in children.”  

What you may not know is that the NTP mentions FAN in several spots throughout the report. This is because the NTP used FAN’s website, particularly our study tracker and the Chinese studies we had translated into English, as one of their trusted databases for their literature search. They didn’t use the CDC, or AFS, or American Academy of Pediatrics, or the American Dental Association. They used FAN.

On page 25, under “literature search results,” the NTP report says:

“The electronic database searches retrieved 25,450 unique references with 11 additional references identified by technical advisors or obtained by manually searching the Fluoride Action Network Website or reviewed reference lists of published reviews and other included studies.”

On page 9 of the NTP’s report, in the section discussing “Supplemental Chinese Database Literature Search,” it says the following:

“A primary goal of the screening of the newly retrieved human reference in the supplemental search of Chinese databases was to identify studies that evaluated primary neurodevelopmental or cognitive outcomes (i.e., learning, memory, and intelligence) that may have been missed in previous searches that did not include the Chinese database. A secondary goal was to examine whether the non-English-language studies on the Fluoride Action Network website (http://fluoridealert.org/)–a sited used as another resource to identify potentially relevant studies because it is known to index fluoride publications–had been selectively presented to list only studies reporting associations with fluoride (9). Newly retrieved human references were reviewed to identify studies that may have been missed using previous approaches. Studies identified that evaluated primary neurodevelopmental or cognitive outcomes were included and either translated or reviewed by an epidemiologist fluent in Chinese.”

When you go to footnote #9 it says:

“Note: As a result of this examination, NTP found no indication that studies were selectively presented on the Fluoride Action Network website.”

They again say on page 10:

“The reference list of all included studies; relevant reviews, editorials, and commentaries; and the Fluoride Action Network website were manually searched for additional relevant publications“

Not only did the NTP use our website to find references to English-language studies, they also relied on our Translation Project to locate non-English language studies they couldn’t find elsewhere; studies that they included in their review. They weren’t the first to do this, as a team of Harvard scientists published a meta-review on fluoride and human IQ (Choi et al., 2012), which cited and included 11 of FAN’s translations.

Making their mention of FAN even more meaningful is that the NTP investigated whether FAN showed bias in presenting the studies. This resulted in the NTP confirming, in footnote #9, that FAN presented the data objectively with “no indication that studies were selectively presented.” This goes against everything our opponents claim: that we cherry-pick data, that we don’t rely on credible studies, and that we aren’t science-based. This paints a much different picture and is a testament to FAN’s extensive work–led by Ellen Connett–on our website, with the study tracker, with our databases, and with our translation project over the past 25 years. 

Over a Decade of Work Realized

The importance of the NTP report cannot be overstated. Upon publication, it received a great deal of attention from the scientific community, as well as the media, and from numerous decision-makers around the world who responded by ending fluoridation. It was also a key piece of evidence used by the federal court to rule that there is “substantial and scientifically credible evidence” establishing that water fluoridation “poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children.” The ruling requires the EPA to now take regulatory action to eliminate this risk. The NTP report, in combination with the ruling, has now garnered the attention of the world, including elected officials in the U.S. at the state and federal levels, such as the incoming presidential administration and its nominees for public health roles. 

The NTP report is also a good example of FAN’s dedication to raising awareness, defending scientific integrity, and creating transparency and accountability in government when it comes to fluoride and fluoridation. You now know the role we played in making critical research available to NTP scientists, but FAN also:

  • Played an instrumental role in convincing the NTP to initiate their systematic review. In 2015, FAN’s Paul Connett, PhD, Michael Connett, and Bill Osmunson, DDS, MPH, led the way in meeting with NTP leadership to educate them on the science related to fluoride and the brain, and later in nominating fluoride neurotoxicity for review by NTP.
  • Educated decision-makers and journalists about the review, providing updates with each draft that was released to the public.
  • Pushed back against the American Dental Association when they attacked NTP authors.
  • Was the trusted watchdog group that whistleblowers within NTP came to after the dental-lobby succeeded in getting the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services to censor the report. 
  • Filed Freedom of Information Act Requests that uncovered email evidence proving that the report had been completed in May of 2022 and its publication forbidden by HHS Assist. Secretary Admiral Rachel Levine.
  • Used legal action to force NTP and HHS to make the report public, along with peer-reviewer comments and NTP author responses.
  • Corrected a meaningful error in the NTP’s calculation of IQ loss prior to publication. 
  • Used the report as a key piece of evidence for our federal court victory.
  • Continues to share the report with journalists and decision-makers to help educate the public in an unprecedented way and to continue to build upon the current wave of communities ending fluoridation.

With your help, FAN will continue to utilize every strategy available to us to build the case against fluoridation. We’re playing the “long game,” as they say, and we’ll remain committed until the end. You can count on that.

Thank you, 

Stuart Cooper

Executive Director 

Fluoride Action Network