From "Notes From a Subterranean Library in Oregon," a compilation of Ray Peat's newspaper letters and columns, compiled by T3Uncoupled (2023). Originally published 1977.

Ray Peat, "Find the facts", p. 26

If fluoridation proponents have such a high regard for the public that they will prescribe and administer mass medication for them, and such a high estimation of the public intelligence that they believe medical and dental issues should be resolved by a public vote, then it would seem that they should have enough respect for the public intelligence to participate in some form of a public debate or at least a presentation of the actual facts in support of their position. Since it seems that no proponent is willing to come right out and cite the particular scientific publications which support their position, and since it seems that there is no dentist or physician in this area who is willing to defend fluoridation in a public debate, and since Eugene magazine has already published enough information to make many people question the scientific competence of the fluoridation proponents, isn’t it the responsibility of the Register-Guard to present a detailed discussion of the evidence which is claimed to demonstrate the efficacy and the safety of fluoridation? If the proponents resort to the argument that our small (public) minds couldn’t understand and evaluate such scientific issues, then they are asking the public to accept their “professional authority.” It might take some work to find and analyze the facts in support of fluoridation, the facts which are vaguely referred to by the advocates of fluoridation, but I think the public deserves a chance to see, in the Register-Guard, the facts on which the health professionals are basing their “authoritative” judgments.