Why are some people scared of fluoride in drinking water?
(Back to Top) Some Arcata residents have raised questions about the safety and efficacy of water fluoridation, exhibiting fear and concern. This is a legitimate question to assist a community understand the pros and cons of preventative public health measures. It may be that some people have concerns based on extrapolation of experimental data using relatively large doses of fluoride and accounts of environmental pollution from industry like steel and zinc production and uranium extraction. These are at exposures significantly greater than optimum water fluoridation. It is likely that there have been “cover ups” about worker and community adverse effects from industrial exposure from fluoride from the 1950s and 60s. There is no such “cover up” about the safety of water fluoridation, nor is one necessary. Environmental concerns about pollution are legitimate; safety concerns about drinking water are not. The Humboldt- Del Norte Medical Society Executive Committee has reaffirmed its posi
