Water Fluoridation Injury Lawsuit Filed in Federal Court

Attempting to reduce tooth decay in tap water drinkers, most US public water supplies include added fluoride chemicals. And, some corporations sell fluoridated bottled water for the same reason. However, ingesting fluoride can lead to dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth, now afflicting 41% of adolescents, according to the CDC. But according to a newly-filed lawsuit, suppliers of fluoridated water fail to effectively warn customers that ingesting fluoride can discolor teeth.

Nidel Law, P.L.L.C., in conjunction with Paulson and Nace, P.L.L.C., filed a case against Nestle U.S.A., Nestle Waters North America, Inc., and the Gerber Products Company, for damage caused by fluoride contained in their products marketed and sold for consumption by children under the age of eight. The Plaintiff, a 13-year old girl, suffers from dental fluorosis. Her mother wants compensation for the costs associated with covering up her daughter’s unsightly teeth, estimated to be over $100,000 over her lifetime. See: http://www.nidellaw.com/blog/?p=66

According to Nidel’s website, “The defendants in this case knew that their products contained fluoride and actively marketed these products to children and to parents for the use in their children. The defendants’ failure to warn of the risk of harm from these products is unacceptable.”

According to a News Release from Georgia-based Lilli Center, “Dental industry representatives have long fretted in their professional journals that fluoride providers could one day face legal actions for harm caused by ingested fluorides...Now, after this year’s admission by federal officials that fluorides are causing increasing amounts of fluorosis, an era of fluoride personal injury and toxic tort litigation appears poised to begin with the recent filing of [this] precedent-setting case in the Federal District Court in Maryland.”

The complaint notes that as a baby and young child, around 90% of the water the girl consumed was fluoridated bottled water sold by the Nestle defendants. The girl’s parents had purchased the water based on its advertised dental benefit for children. According to lead attorney, Washington D.C.-based Chris Nidel, the young woman’s family now faces significant costs for damage-covering dental veneers. The veneers will need to be replaced four or five times, resulting in a lifetime potential cost of more than $100,000 in dental expenses.

Attorney Nidel points to a photo of his client’s teeth. “In this case, a photo really is worth a thousand words,” he states. “The water providers had a responsibility to warn their customers about fluorosis, but they did not.” Photo of plaintiff's teeth is here: http://www.nidellaw.com/press/Front.png

According to the Lilli Center News Release, the girl’s mother told Nidel, ‘I thought I was doing the right thing for my daughter when she was a child, by giving her bottled water that contained fluoride. Her teeth have now been permanently damaged by fluorosis. She is extremely self-conscious about her smile. Her friends ask her about her teeth. And now we’re faced with extensive cosmetic restorations. It’s not simple, and it’s expensive.”

Public health professional Daniel G. Stockin of The Lillie Center Inc., a firm working to end water fluoridation, says, “I believe water utilities will note that the bottled waters that are the focus of this complaint contained around 0.8 parts per million of fluoride, which is right near the amount that public utilities add to their water. We know that millions of people have dental fluorosis, and that minority populations are disproportionately harmed by it. People are not being openly told what fluorosis really is or how it can impact their lives. I think it will be very interesting to see the revelations that come out now, as fluoride product sellers and fluoridated water endorsers begin to be placed under oath in all sorts of fluoride-related legal actions.”

Stockin adds, “There were also warnings in dental and other publications that fluorides could potentially cause bone disorders, kidney harm, and thyroid impairment. I believe we’ll quickly see fluoride lawsuits grow way beyond fluorosis cases.”

Attorney Nidel says, “We’re at the beginning of what looks to be an absolutely enormous wave of new fluoride litigation. There are so many harmed teenagers with fluorosis. We have the government’s own data to prove that. Potentially millions with fluorosis will want to talk to an attorney, and believe me, plaintiff attorneys and the plaintiffs’ bar are beginning to educate themselves about all this.”

“The National Research Council’s 2006 fluoride report raised concerns about possible harm that goes well beyond dental fluorosis,” he continues. “It appears that millions of kidney patients and diabetics were not told about their increased susceptibility to harm from fluorides by their water providers or healthcare professionals,” he says.

This month, the prestigious League of United Latin American Citizens condemned fluoridation as a Civil Rights Violation.

This adds Hispanic leaders to a growing list of groups and prominent individuals now speaking out against fluoridation, including former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter and niece Dr. Bernice A. King and Dr. Alveda King, Coalition of African American Pastors President Rev. William Owens, and civil rights leader and minister Dr. Gerald Durley.

NYC Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr introduced legislation to stop fluoridation in New York City .

Petition to NYC Mayor Bloomberg to pass this legislation into law is here: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-fluoridation-in-new-york-city

CONTACT:

Daniel G. Stockin, MPH The Lillie Center, Inc. P.O. Box 839 Ellijay GA 30540

Ph: 706-669-0786 email: stockin2 [at] yahoo.com web: http://www.SpotsOnMyTeeth.com