NEARLY four decades after the battle erupted over fluoridating the water to combat tooth decay, the issue rarely makes news. But it continues to simmer. A recent special report in the American Chemical Society’s weekly Chemical and Engineering News documents growing concern about the health risks of fluoridation. There is also continuing debate about the […]
News Archive
Welcome to the Fluoride Action Network News Archive. The FAN News Archive serves as an historical repository for fluoride news stories, positive or negative. Since FAN catalogs all news stories on fluoride, our news section remains a reliable database of all published fluoride news.
Our news database is categorized by country, state/province, and industry. This collection of articles is constantly being updated with the most recent global news on fluoride-related issues and events.
Mobil Refinery Study Fails to Address Key Risk Issue
Torrance City Council members expressed surprise Tuesday that an $88,000 study on safety of the Mobil Oil refinery will not answer their key question: What is the risk of the plant continuing to use hydrofluoric acid — an acutely toxic chemical — in the refining process. “That was the most important aspect of the whole […]
Fluoridation safety must be assessed
When it comes to herbicides, preservatives and other chemicals, the public can be mighty choosy about what it allows in its food and drink. Except, that is, when it comes to putting fluorides in its drinking water. Half the American population and hundreds of millions more people around the world now quiescently accept the presence […]
Brazilian city battles pollution
Cubatao, Brazil – Quality of air, water improves in ‘valley of death’ Thanks to perhaps the biggest anti-pollution program ever mounted in Brazil, this industrial city nestled in the Serra do Mar mountains is on the way to losing its reputation as ”the valley of death.” With the Sao Paulo State environmental agency, Cetesb, mandating […]
Fluoridation still controversial after 40 years
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — When Dr. Willard VerMeulen came here in 1924, this industrial city was filled with the penniless Dutch immigrants who turned out much of America’s furniture. As a dentist he had expected to see suffering, but even he was shocked by what he found. “Not one person in 10 had a mouth […]
Change of Acid at Refinery Could Reduce Risk, Report Says
Use of sulfuric acid instead of hydrofluoric acid at the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery in Torrance could pose less danger to area residents in the event of an accident, according to a preliminary report prepared by the Torrance city staff. But it also would mean a substantial increase in truck traffic and hazardous-waste disposal problems, […]
L.A. Refinery Blast Sparks Warning on Possibility of Poisonous Gas Release
Citing a November explosion at the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery in Torrance, South Coast Air Quality Management District officials have warned that the possibility exists for a “significant release” of hydrogen fluoride gas at facilities that use the chemical. An AQMD staff report obtained Monday calls for creation of a “high-level, multiagency” task force that […]
Hydrofluoric Acid Leak in Texas Leaves a Residue of Questions
TEXAS CITY, Tex. – After 4,000 people were evacuated as a result of a leak of hydrofluoric acid from a refinery, questions are still being asked about potential hazards here and in other cities where the same chemical is used. Those questions center both on the long-term effects on those exposed to the Oct. 30 […]
Will Florida cut radon risks?
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If the 1988 Legislature is serious about reducing Florida’s lung cancer cases caused by radon gas, it will toss out the tainted report from a committee of special interests and concentrate on recommendations by Gloria Rains, a Manatee County environmentalist and expert on the radon hazard. Mrs. Rains recently stood alone against the industries that […]
Alert Sounded on Potentially Lethal Refinery Chemical
Fifty-eight U.S. oil refineries, including three in the Los Angeles area, are using a potentially lethal chemical that could result in a Bhopal-like disaster threatening as many as 12 million people across the country, a Washington-based environmental group has warned. Fred Millar of the Environmental Policy Institute issued the warning three years after the Bhopal […]