(NaturalNews) In response to a petition filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Environmental Working Group (EWG), and other environmental groups, the FDA has announced that it will ban a variety of toxic food packaging chemicals and cancer-causing food flavoring chemicals – chemicals they had previously approved.(1)

Specifically, the food packaging chemicals they're banning are all perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), which belong to a class of coating chemicals associated with causing cancers, neurological problems, hormone imbalances and other serious health problems. Items typically coated with PFCs include take-out food containers, non-stick cookware and pizza boxes.(1)

The organizations final ruling on the matter is stated as follows:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is amending the food additive regulations to no longer provide for the use of three specific perfluoroalkyl ethyl containing food-contact substances (FCSs) as oil and water repellants for paper and paperboard for use in contact with aqueous and fatty foods because new data are available as to the toxicity of substances structurally similar to these compounds that demonstrate there is no longer a reasonable certainty of no harm from the food-contact use of these FCSs.(2)
 

So, why isn't the FDA banning fluoride in public water supplies?

While this is certainly good news, their move still begs the question: if fluorine-based chemicals, "... no longer [show] a reasonable certainty of no harm ..." then why isn't the FDA interested in banning fluoride in public water supplies?

Seriously, just because many people have it in their heads that fluoride builds healthy teeth (cavity prevention), and that it's not harmful (because the medical professionals say so, because ads say so, etc.), that doesn't make it true.

Health-conscious people like Natural News readers know this, but the point is that the FDA, which has regulatory oversight regarding tap water quality standards, isn't on board with the concept that fluoride is unhealthy. In fact, they downright embrace fluoride in the water system; their website states that, "... fluoride is voluntarily added to some drinking water systems as a public health measure to help reduce the incidence of cavities among the population."(3)
 

Most fluoride in tap water isn't naturally-occurring; even some dentists say it's not safe

The sad reality is that fluoride in water – contrary to what many people think – doesn't necessarily come from naturally-occurring elements within the earth. Oh no, much of the fluoride that's added to the public water system comes from industrial waste systems' dangerous byproducts which haven't even been tested to gauge safety levels. Needless to say, they certainly don't do a thing for oral health, let alone other health aspects.(4