I'm glad to see more of the national media -- you can't get more national than Time magazine -- is finally taking a critical look at fluoride. It's certainly about time (pun not intended), considering the CDC and American Dental Association swasted some of our hard-earned tax dollars to celebrate the 60th anniversary of water fluoridation in Chicago last summer.

In some parts of the country, like Bellingham, Wash., the fight is getting very nasty. This normally quiet college town is a hot bed of controversy, thanks to a Nov. 8 referendum that will decide if fluoride will be added to local water systems.

It's obvious people are becoming more skeptical of fluoride's dubious worth by the day. Legislation that would have added fluoride in water systems has been defeated or tabled in Arkansas, Hawaii, Nebraska and Oregon and new battles are brewing in Massachusetts and New Jersey as well as Canada. (And that doesn't include 11 EPA employee unions calling for a moratorium on the fluoridation of drinking water either.)

If you're still not convinced about the dangers of fluoride, I urge you to read Dr. Paul Connett's awesome piece that summarizes the heated and toxic history behind fluoride.

Then, take a look at recent studies that have shown how fluoride spikes the risk of bone cancer in young boys and all the places you'd never expected to find it.

Time October 17, 2005