09/22/2026
Anti-Science and Anti-Reason Strike Again
The Sorry Saga of Fluoridation of Public Drinking Water
Richard Douglass
As evidence of history repeating itself and “bad things never really going away” there is renewed nonsense in many Michigan communities to discontinue putting fluorine in the public drinking water. This is a challenge to public health and a threat to the dental health of our children that reappears periodically by people who don’t understand science, epidemiology, historical evidence, or common sense. It is also used by political conservatives to distract public attention from real problems like pediatric obesity and diabetes that are both aggravated by sugar-loaded soda drinks and other processed foods.
In the Spring, 2026, there was a proposition of the Huron Shore Regional Utility Authority (HSRUA) in Iosco County to discontinue fluoridation within the HSRUA system – which supplies treated water to Tawas City and the City of East Tawas, as well as Oscoda, AuSable and Baldwin townships. I was advised that a resolution would be brought before each of the governing bodies in each community.
This has sadly also shown up in other rural counties in Michigan. It is part of an anti-public health propaganda program by the Trump administration, via the pathetically unqualified Secretary of Health and Human Services. It is part of the same playbook as anti-vaccination and the foolishness of not masking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recent controversy over community water fluoridation was generated by a National Toxicology Program (NTP) monograph released in August 2025 that has often been quoted by US DHHS Secretary Kennedy. I want to bring to your attention the American Dental Association’s statement in support of fluoridation, citing the health benefits of optimally fluoridated water and disputing studies purporting to demonstrate a link between fluoridated water and lower IQ scores.
Brett Kessler, DDS, President of the ADA:
“The public needs to understand that the levels examined in NTP report are from countries with high levels of naturally occurring fluoride that is more than double the amount recommended by the U.S. Public Health Service to optimally fluoridate community water systems and help prevent dental disease. A more recent study in which the level of fluoride in water is comparable to that in the U.S. found no measurable effect on cognitive neurodevelopment or IQ scores in children. To prevent dental disease the ADA continues to recommend drinking optimally fluoridated water along with twice daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste and eating a healthy diet, low in added sugars,”
https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral in the ground water. Introducing it to community water supplies is not a chemical intervention based on an artificial idea. Populations with sufficient ground water fluoride have much lower tooth decay than those with less. Places like Michigan, with less, have benefitted from adding fluoride to drinking water for most of the last 80 years. The evidence of broad and cost-effective public dental health benefits of fluoridation is abundant, scientifically sound and one of the most striking public health interventions in history. For the record, Grand Rapids, Michigan was one of the first municipalities in the country to fully adopt fluoridation of the public water supply. The results were so successful that Muskegon, a control city, quit the demonstration project early to introduce fluoride in the water consumed by citizens of Muskegon. Within a year Muskegon’s pediatric dental health benefit was equivalent to the benefit to children in Grand Rapids.
The recurrent debate over fluoridation of public drinking water is old, falsely based, and politically driven by people who, in my opinion, care less about the public’s health and wellbeing than about making a political point. Mr. Kennedy’s public support of the flawed NTP report is consistent with his career-long aversion to vaccination and many other proven public health interventions; interventions that have given us better and longer lives and that have protected our children from dozens of preventable diseases, including measles.
An important consideration here in Iosco County, and in all rural communities in Michigan, is that in addition to citizens living in municipalities with public water supplied by HSRUA, or other water authorities, school children living beyond municipal water supplies with private well water at home benefit from access to fluoridated water at school. Employed adults working within city limits also benefit from access to fluoridated water. The negative consequences of removing fluoridation protections against dental decay would be substantial and affect hundreds of children and adults. Why would we remove a guard rail against dental disease that has been proven repeatedly to work? Increasing dental disease would mean that many children would often miss school and would have years of remedial dental care. Dental disease is painful and it seems to me that we ought to seek to always remove sources of pain from our children’s lives. Our dental service offerings in Iosco County reflect much of rural Michigan with too few dentists for the size and demographics of our population. The consequences of removing fluoridation as a public health program would be felt by children, adults and the professionals who are already over-taxed.
There is no evidence, of any kind or from any systematic study, that municipal water works personnel have had any adverse effects associated with handling fluoride in liquid or powder form that has been used with huge success throughout the United States and every industrialized nation. There are substantial regulatory protections regarding the use and handling of such chemicals at the national and state level. Promoting hypothetical rumors or unsupported suspicions of toxic responses or disease is like screaming “fire” in a crowded theater. It is unethical, dangerous, and can only bring conflict and bad outcomes to our government process instead of making progress for the community’s future. We need to recognize public health programs and practices that have been proven to work for the community’s well-being and avoid introducing false information that brings doubt and a loss of confidence in both the efforts of public health and the competence of local government.
The supportive and substantial research, dating back over 75 years has consistently demonstrated that fluoridation of public water supplies protects children’s dental health, reduces pain and suffering, reduces loss of school time associated with dental pain and dental intervention, and is an inexpensive way to improve the public’s health. Contrary perspectives and conclusions about the community water supply fluoridation issue are driven by ill-advised and uninformed political voices who do not care about the well-being of our children. All efforts to curtail fluoridation of public water supplies in Michigan should be robustly opposed.
Richard L. Douglass
Sources:
https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/fluoride-in-water
https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101446999-img
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