“We don’t really need it added to our drinking water any more” Linda Birnbaum, Retired NTP Director.

Retired National Toxicology Program (NTP) Director, Linda Birnbaum, discusses why she believes water fluoridation is outdated due to emerging evidence of the risk of developmental neurotoxicity and a demonstrable lack of efficacy.

Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S., is one of the most highly-respected scientists in the nation. A board certified toxicologist and microbiologist, she served as a federal scientist for 40 years.

Dr. Birnbaum was director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from 2009 to 2019. Prior to her appointment at NIH, she spent 19 years an the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she directed the largest division on environmental health research.

Birnbaum received many awards and recognitions. In October 2010, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health. Other awards included two NIH Director’s Award, an EPA Health Science Achievement Award, a Surgeon General’s Medallion, and 14 Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards, which reflected the recommendations of EPA’s external Science Advisory Board.

She was vice president of the International Union of Toxicology, the umbrella organization for toxicology societies in more than 50 countries; former president of the Society of Toxicology, the largest professional organization of toxicologists in the world.

Birnbaum is now a Special Volunteer at NIEHS and conducts research as part of the Mechanistic Toxicology Branch. She's also a scholar in residence at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and is also the past president of the Society of Toxicology.

Originally uploaded on Dec 7, 2023