BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The City of Buffalo and the water board have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the city spent several years misleading the public after the city stopped adding fluoride to its water supply in June 2015.
The lawsuit was filed by a group of parents in 2023, alleging that the city did not properly disclose that city water had fluoride in it, which is a common health measure in many areas across the country and world to help prevent tooth decay and provide other health benefits.
Attorneys for Veolia, a waste management service with a facility in Tonawanda, and the city argued in court that annual water quality reports properly disclosed that fluoride was no longer being added to the city’s drinking water.
Beginning in the 2015-16 water quality report from the city, a line has been added noting that “since June 22, 2015, fluoride has not been added to your drinking water” and the line is repeated in each report through the most recent report for 2024-25, but the reports also include lines like “our system provides drinking water with a controlled, low level of fluoride for consumer dental health protection,” “we monitor fluoride levels on a daily basis,” and “to ensure that the fluoride supplement in your water provides optimal dental protection…”
Robert Corp, an attorney for Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria, which represents the families, said, “these present-tense statements suggested that fluoride was still being added and monitored, even though it hadn’t been since 2015. The reports also included graphics showing fluoride as part of the water treatment process, which reinforced and misleading impression.”
Fluoride was returned to the city’s water supply in September 2024.
“The mayor, the Buffalo Common Council, UB Dental School and the 8th District Dental Society all continued to operate under the assumption that Buffalo’s drinking water contained therapeutic fluoride,” Corp said.
The lack of fluoride in the city’s water came to light in a 2023 story from The Buffalo News.
“After that story broke, then-Mayor Byron Brown publicly admitted ‘we should have put the information out to the community. No excuse for it,’” Corp said.
A federal court has not made a ruling on the attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. Both sides will submit additional materials before Aug. 6.
WIVB News 4 has reached out to attorneys representing the city and has not yet heard back.
Original article online at: https://www.wsaz.com/2025/07/28/rfk-jr-tell-cdc-change-fluoride-guidelines/