On September 25, Judge Edward Chen of the US District Court of Northern California ruled entirely in favor of the plaintiffs in an epochal seven-year legal battle with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the safety of water fluoridation.
Judge Chen ordered the EPA to take regulatory action to eliminate an “unreasonable risk” to the health of children. In particular, the judge’s 80 page ruling found that the fluoridation of water at 0.7 milligrams per liter, the level currently recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children.” Judge Chen went on to say “...Reduced IQ poses serious harm. Studies have linked IQ decrements [reductions] of even one or two points to, e.g. reduced educational attainment, employment status, productivity and earned wages.”