Fluoride Toxicity and Bromide Poisoning: Why Do We Allow Governments to Harm Us?

SAN JOSE — San Francisco has had it since 1951, Oakland since 1976. Los Angeles and San Diego, along with Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties, have it too.

And starting Monday, large sections of San Jose — the nation’s biggest city without fluoride in its drinking water — finally will begin to receive the additive.

The move comes several years after a push by dentists, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, who contend that fluoride can help reduce high rates of cavities, particularly in low-income children with limited access to dental care. In 2011, they persuaded directors of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the area’s wholesale water provider, to vote 7-0 for the $6.2 million project to retrofit the district’s three drinking-water treatment plants...................