PFOA in rain worldwide exceeds EPA advisory level

Amounts of PFAS in precipitation called “practically irreversible” Credit: Shutterstock Even in remote areas, precipitation contains levels of PFOA higher than the EPA recommends for drinking water, reserachers say. Rain and snow around the world contain higher concentrations of a toxic, persistent industrial chemical than the US Environmental Protection Agency’s advisory level for the substance […]

No evidence that turmeric removes fluoride from the brain

Note from Fluoride Action Network: This is stated in the article below: “Recent research has also found that exposure to fluoride in pregnancy is associated with poor cognitive development, but those findings have been disputed.” It’s unfortunate that the source for the dispute is the American Council on Science and Health, an industry-friendly non-profit that goes after anything […]

ACSH in the Media: New Year’s Edition

Note from Fluoride Action Network: The article discussed in #1 below is titled Association Between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada. The study, by Green et al., looked at 512 mother-child pairs from six major Canadian cities.  It was funded by the Canadian government and the U.S. National Institute […]

Fluorine: The Element From Hell

Note from Fluoride Action Network: With all the negative comments we give to industry’s handmaiden, the American Council on Science and Health, this article was surprisingly good and fun to read. (EC) If I start this thing off with the periodic table, even my own mother won’t read it, and she is one of the […]

Now Dr. Oz is Against Fluoride Too?

Brother John Birch and anti-science activists have a new friend — in Dr. Oz. Well, anti-science activists always had him. But John Birchers, that may seem new. The good doctor has often garnered ratings by embracing wacky beliefs. Now he does so by again suggesting fluoride in water is hurting us, and for supporting evidence […]

The Top Ten Unfounded Health Scares of 2011

I. Introduction Some old scares refuse to die. This year finds us with revivals of more than a few stories that we had hoped would stay in the junk scares graveyard, where they belong. But from phthalates to genetically modified fish, consumers continue to be needlessly frightened about safe products. Still, we’ve also been kept […]

Fight for water fluoridation tooth and nail

Fluoridating water reduces the incidence of tooth decay by 25 percent nationwide and is heralded as one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the twentieth century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nevertheless, the practice has been rejected by about 200 jurisdictions over the past four years. So far this […]

Comment on NYC Council member Peter Vallone’s position on fluoride

When the Environmental Working Group this week declared much of American produce to be “tainted” with pesticides, ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross found more than a trace of irony in their latest, much publicized food scare. In his op-ed featured in yesterday’s National Post, Dr. Ross observes that the source of a real public health threat […]

Valloney Baloney Redux

City Council member Peter Vallone, Jr. was not happy with ACSH’s recent response to his efforts to ban the fluoridation of New York’s tap water. Ignoring decades of evidence that the addition of fluoride, a substance that protects against cavities, has been one of the most effective public health measures of the century, Mr. Vallone […]