From Brenda Staudenmaier

Green Bay

To the Editor:

I want to bring attention to an important issue regarding fluoride in our drinking water. Recently, I successfully sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Federal Court over the neurotoxic effects of fluoride chemicals in public water systems. The court ruled in our favor, concluding that, “Plaintiffs have proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that water fluoridation at the level of 0.7 mg/L — the recommended level in the U.S. — presents an ‘unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment...’”

However, it has come to my attention that the Monroe dental community is attempting to downplay this ruling. They are relying on outdated and misleading information from the Wisconsin Dental Association’s “Benefits of Fluoride” website. This site is filled with decades-old talking points and resources designed to protect the multibillion-dollar fluoride industry. None of the information on this site includes crucial studies on fluoride’s neurotoxicity, which have been funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published from 2017 through 2024.

One particularly misleading claim is that fluoride reduces tooth decay by 25%. This statistic has been circulated for over 20 years but is no longer supported by current research. New studies like the 2024 CochraneSystematic Review, the 2024 LOTUS 10-year retrospective cohort study, and the 2022 CATFISH prospective longitudinal cohort study, show fluoride’s effectiveness in reducing tooth decay is actually less than 4%.

It’s crucial that the public is not swayed by those with financial interests in promoting fluoride. The stakes are high, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue at risk for those who profit from fluoride’s positive reputation and fluoride dental treatments. But the health of our community, particularly our children, must come first. Fluoride is quickly becoming the new lead and it’s time we treat it as such.