From Fluoride Action Network (fluoridealert.org):

On Monday, the Conference Committee on the Agricultural Act of 2014 released the final compromise language for the legislation, also known as the “Farm Bill.” The committee added the following language at the eleventh hour, that reverses EPA's proposed phase-out of the neurotoxic fumigant sulfuryl fluoride (which took 8 years in a hard-won victory by FAN):

Agricultural Act of 2014 - Sec. 10015 Regulation of sulfuryl fluoride.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall exclude non-pesticideal sources of fluoride from any aggregate exposure assessment required under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 346a) when assessing tolerances associated with residues from the pesticide. (PAGE 806 at https://www.agri-pulse.com/uploaded/Farm-Bill-conference-summary-2014.pdf)

Legislative leaders in the House quickly scheduled a vote on the 1,000 page bill for Wednesday, giving Congressional members no time to read the full text, and opponents little time to organize opposition. As a result, the House of Representatives voted 251-166 in favor of the bill yesterday afternoon, sending it now to the Senate where it’s expected to be approved before Friday night.

If the Senate approves this legislation, then the U.S. will remain one of only two countries in the world that allows this highly toxic fumigant to be sprayed directly on food, leaving unsafe levels of fluoride residue to be eaten by consumers and putting infants and children at risk of exceeding the EPA’s own reference dose for fluoride. If passed, it will be even more imperative that we end water fluoridation as soon as possible—if we can’t eat our food, let’s at least be able to drink our water!

Our only chance of stopping this horrible legislation is to contact Senators and demand they VOTE NO on the Farm bill. Please take a few minutes to use our automated system to email your Senator. Please also call their Washington, D.C. and local offices to tell their staff that as a constituent you expect your Senator to VOTE NO. Remember, a phone call is worth 100 emails.

Stuart Cooper,
Campaign Director for Fluoride Action Network


The backstory on the House version of the Farm Bill and Section 10015 (also from FAN):
When you want to introduce a toxic fluoride pesticide into America's food supply and you don't have science, or the law, on your side, what do you do? You pay millions of dollars to lobbyists in Washington D.C. to re-write the law. And that, unfortunately, is exactly what Dow AgroSciences has appeared to have done. Yesterday, FAN learned that Dow has successfully lobbied to have a one-paragraph provision added to the Farm Bill that will reverse the EPA's proposed decision to prohibit the use of sulfuryl fluoride on American-grown food. The Senate is expected to vote on the Bill later this afternoon.

Here's some background: In January 2011, the EPA granted FAN's objections to the use of sulfuryl fluoride because Americans are already receiving too much fluoride from other sources, including water and toothpaste. As FAN (together with Environmental Working Group and Beyond Pesticides) repeatedly pointed out to EPA in submissions spanning 8 years, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA, the law governing pesticide use in the U.S.) prohibits the use of pesticides if people are already receiving unsafe levels from all aggregate sources. After reviewing the data that FAN submitted, the EPA conceded that using sulfuryl fluoride was inconsistent with the legislative mandate of the FQPA.

After EPA announced this decision, Dow immediately went to work lobbying Congress to change the law. While FAN coordinated several letter-writing campaigns to thwart Dow's lobbying efforts, Dow appears to be on the brink of getting its way.

With Dow and its friends in Congress jacking up the fluoride levels in the nation's food supply it becomes more urgent than ever to end the unnecessary and outdated practice of adding fluoride to the public water supply.

For those who wish to protect themselves from this renewed assault on their lives a good start is to buy organic wherever you can, or grow your own food if you have the space. FAN will also be investigating which corporations will be using Dow's sulfuryl fluoride so that our members will know which foods - and which corporations - to avoid.