MARCH 3, 2018
A federal court has denied an attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to ban the use of fluoride under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
In a victory for water fluoridation opponents, a judge in the Northern District of California has denied a motion by the Environmental Protection Agency that sought to limit the information available to the court while making their decision on whether or not to ban water fluoridation. The lawsuit was brought forth by Food and Water Watch Inc. and a coalition of health organizations and individuals concerned about fluoride. Under section 21 of The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) citizens are allowed to petition the EPA to regulate or ban individual chemicals. Food and Water Watch filed the lawsuit after the EPA rejected a citizen petition calling for the EPA to ban the addition of fluoride chemicals to the drinking water supply.
As the lawsuit proceeded the EPA interpreted the language of the law to mean the judge should be limited to reviewing the information the EPA provided when it decided to reject the petition on February 17, 2017. “The disagreement is whether, in reaching its own decision, the court can consider information that the EPA did not have access to e.g. expert testimony, new studies, documents obtained in discovery, etc.,” Michael Connett, the attorney representing the coalition told Bloomberg Environment before the ruling.
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