Fluoride: Friend Or Foe?

Fluoride Opponent Says Chemical Is Harmful To Our Health
By Stephany Fisher, CBS Atlanta Anchor
Mar. 08, 2010

ATLANTA -- It's in the tap water we drink and many of the foods we eat.

For decades, we've been told that it helps fight cavities, but there are critics who say this chemical is doing more harm than good.

"I've worked with a lot of dangerous things in my career. I don't get real worked up over chemicals or I could have never done my job -- this one scares me," said Daniel Stockin, a health advocate whose background includes toxics assessment.

What could it be? Arsenic? Lead?

No, it's fluoride -- the kind you brush your teeth with, and the kind that's been added to Atlanta's city water supply since 1969. Every public water district in Georgia is required by law to do so.

"When we started to fluoridate 50-plus years ago, water was the only source for the fluoride, then they really quickly said hey, let's put it in toothpaste, and then it started to show up in the foods made with fluoridated water," Stockin said.

Continued