City Council member Peter Vallone, Jr. was not happy with ACSH’s recent response to his efforts to ban the fluoridation of New York’s tap water. Ignoring decades of evidence that the addition of fluoride, a substance that protects against cavities, has been one of the most effective public health measures of the century, Mr. Vallone insists that its continued use poses a health risk.
Mr. Vallone’s message is a blast from the past for ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “This is so 1960s!” she says. “That's when these paranoid debates about fluoride being a communist plot began. I can’t believe he’s bringing this up again. Talk to any dentist whose been practicing in New York over the past few decades, and they will tell you that kids are coming in with far fewer cavities since water was fluoridated in 1965. Unfortunately, despite the manifold benefits of water fluoridation, if New Yorkers were to vote now on whether to have it, they might well vote ‘no’ because of the pervasive phobia about chemicals that has seized the nation.”
Writing in the Queens Tribune, Vallone reserved a few choice words for ACSH:
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross would like to thank Mr. Vallone for at least quoting us correctly. “Industry hacks? Does he believe ACSH is in the pocket of ‘Big Fluoride’? ”
In the same vein, Dr. Whelan comments, “Anybody who thinks that we get substantial funding from big corporations should attend one of our funding meetings.” She adds, “Who even could possibly have an interest in putting up funds to support fluoridation?”