Babies Most Vulnerable to Fluoride's Neurotoxic Effects

As of Jul7 2022, 76 studies found fluoride lowers IQ -  23 published since 2017  The fetus and formula fed infants are the most vulnerable to fluoride's neurotoxicity. 

These studies are the basis of a current lawsuit against the US EPA which could end the artificial fluoridation program in the US to protect the brains of the fetus and babies. The next court date is October 26, 2022. Counsel for the plaintiffs is Michael Connett, JD, Partner, Waters Kraus & Paul. 

Fluoride from foods and beverages consumed during pregnancy is associated with lower cognitive neurodevelopment in boy babies, even when fluoride is ingested at recommended levels, report researchers Cantoral et al. in Neurotoxicology (December 2021) and funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

Fluoride's adverse neurological effects are backed by hundreds of animal and cell studies.

Few know that fluoride, besides being added to many public water supplies, is in foods and beverages at varying and inconsistent levels – either naturally or from fluoridated pesticides; fluoridated water used in processing; feed regimen of animal products; food storage containers (Teflon-coated containers); and food packaging (migration of perfluorochemicals into food). Too much fluoride is health-harming and indisputable. Topical fluoride application also invites some absorption into the bloodstream.

“Specifically, a 0.5 mg increase in dietary fluoride intake during the third trimester and across pregnancy was associated with a 3.10-points and 3.46-point lower cognitive score in boys, respectively,” reports Cantoral’s team.

“Fluoride is not an essential nutrient and…fluoride ingestion in pregnancy does not strengthen enamel during tooth formation in the fetus but has been associated with increased risk of neurotoxicity, even at optimal exposure levels,” they write.

Prominent scientists proclaim “It is time to protect kids’ developing brains from fluoride”

Cantoral’s team writes that “The National Toxicology Program concluded that fluoride is ‘presumed to be a cognitive developmental hazard to humans’ based upon a growing body of high-quality epidemiological studies conducted in endemic and non-endemic fluorosis areas.”

“These findings suggest that the development of nonverbal abilities in males may be more vulnerable to prenatal fluoride exposure than language or motor abilities, even at levels within the recommended intake range,” they write.

After 77 years of water fluoridation, 70% of US children and adolescents are fluoride-overdosed and afflicted with dental fluorosis (white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth) while tooth decay remains a US epidemic.

SCIENTISTS WHO CAUTION THAT FLUORIDE CAN DAMAGE BABIES' DEVELOPING BRAINS

Experts who testified in the US Federal Lawsuit  Case No. 17-CV-02162-EMC, challenging water fluoridation safety, that's set to continue in September 2022, include:

 

1) Kathleen M. Thiessen, Ph.D. a risk assessment scientist at Oak Ridge Center for Risk Analysis in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

   

Dr. Thiessen testified that “The animal data on fluoride neurotoxicity are consistent with the epidemiological data in showing a risk of cognitive deficits at doses of fluoride ingested from fluoridated water.”

 

2) A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Phillipe Grandjean is on the faculty of Harvard University and the University of Southern Denmark. He’s received multiple awards throughout his long career for his research on the effects of environmental toxins affecting children and has also been recognized for his advocacy in protecting future generations from the effects of neuro- and developmental toxins.

 

Dr. Grandjean testified that "… there is little doubt that developmental neurotoxicity is a serious risk associated with elevated fluoride exposure, whether due to community water fluoridation, natural fluoride release from soil minerals, or tea consumption, especially when the exposure occurs during early development."

 

3) Dr. Howard Hu, from the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, has led international research teams investigating the environmental, nutritional, social, and epi/genetic causes of chronic disease and impaired child development in the USA, Mexico, India, China, and elsewhere around the world.

 

Dr. Hu advises pregnant women and infants to avoid fluoride ingestion to assure normal brain development (Journal of Pediatrics “Current Best Evidence,” July 2020). He wrote, "Fluoride is not essential for growth and development, a cautious step could be avoidance of fluoridated products and water by women during pregnancy and by infants during the first 6 months of life."

 

4) Dr. Lanphear is on the faculty at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where his research focuses on preventing common diseases and disabilities in children, as well as quantifying the impact of risk factors to children’s health including exposures to heavy metals and chemicals.

 

An Op-Ed by Dr. Lanphear; Linda Birnbaum, PhD, Former Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; and Christine Till, PhD, co-author of the JAMA-Pediatrics research article “Association Between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada”  wrote:

 

“Mounting evidence suggests fluoride may be hampering brain development and reducing kids' IQ. The US needs to rethink this exposure for pregnant women and children.”

 

 

JAMA Pediatrics Journal editor Dimitri Christakis, MD, said. “I would advise them [pregnant women] to drink bottled water or filtered water because it is not a particularly odious thing to do and actually does reduce the risk,” in a discussion of the JAMA Pediatrics fluoride/IQ study.

 

Fluoridation was declared safe for 75 years. “Yet, studies conducted in North America examining the safety of fluoride exposure in pregnancy were nonexistent,” write Till and Green in “Controversy: The evolving science of fluoride: when new evidence doesn’t conform with existing beliefs.” Till and Green both advise pregnant women to avoid fluoride.

 

Dr. Till's youtube presentation about her research which garnered intense scrutiny before being published in JAMA-Pediatrics is here: 

 

EPA scientists, in a recent research paper, write "Fluoride was observed to have the greatest increase in impacting cognitive ability and it is often reported to affect memory and cause cognitive deficits."  (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 2020) 

 

 

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US Govt Report Reveals Fluoridation Futile. Fluoride Confirmed Neurotoxic. EPA Sued.

Despite increases in public water fluoridation, dental visits, sealants, fluoride varnish applications, and significant financial, training, and program investments, oral health hasn’t improved in 22 years in the US, according to a National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Oral Health in America Report (December 2021).  Further, it's undisputed that fluoride is neurotoxic, especially to babies' developing brains; but fluoridationists doubt the levels to which it occurs.

A new UK study, entitled CATFISH, shows a modest cavity reduction of 4% and 3% in 5-year-olds and 11-year-old's, respectively over their lifetimes, between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas and admits disparities persist.

Hundreds of studies support 76 human studies which show fluoride damages babies' developing brains. Prominent scientists urge us all to protect babies' brains from fluoride

These studies are the basis of a current lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower allowable fluoride contaminant levels in drinking water.  The trial starts January 29, 2024 (Food and Water Watch, et al). Counsel for the plaintiffs is Michael Connett, JD, Partner, Waters Kraus & Paul. 

EPA admits that fluoride is a chemical “with Substantial Evidence of Developmental Neurotoxicity”  Under oath, CDC's Oral Health Director (who claims fluoridation is safe) has  No Safety Data on Fluoride and the Brain

InsideEPA.com reports (3/15/23), "The National Toxicology Program (NTP) has quietly unsealed its 2022 draft report on fluoride toxicity, publishing for the first time its finding 'with moderate confidence' that common drinking water fluoridation levels are associated with drops in childhood IQ -- a conclusion environmentalists plan to use in their suit seeking TSCA limits on fluoridation." 

Fluoride chemicals (hydrofluosilicic acid and sodium fluoride) are added to about 70% of US public drinking water supplies ostensibly to prevent tooth decay in tap water drinkers. But after 78 years of fluoridation, 50% of US 6-8 year-olds still have cavities, according to the CDC. Fifty-seven percent of adolescents aged 12-19 years have cavities (Journal of Public Health Dentistry). Seventy percent of US children and adolescents are afflicted with fluoride overdose - dental fluorosis - white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth - according to published federal data (NHANES)  Dentists profit from covering fluorosis http://tinyurl.com/DentalFluorosisBeforeAfter

Recently, the State College Borough Water Authority in Pennsylvania, made up of scientifically trained professionals representing various aspects of water quality, source water protections, engineering and business management, voted to reject fluoridation unanimously after members read the science and didn't  just rely on outdated and unscientific endorsements.    

They criticized fluoridationists who "misrepresented and discredited the scientific evidence" (including Dr. Johnny Johnson's testimony. He is the President of the American Fluoridation Society)

Former New York State dental director (now California Dental Director), who works closely with the American Dental Association, has been accused of misrepresenting his published fluoride/IQ study.

US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy: "Nine out of 10 adults 20 to 64 years of age have had dental caries, a figure that hasn’t meaningfully changed during the past 20 years...dental care costs have increased by 30%," reported in the New England Journal of Medicine

The Pew Charitable Trusts  writes: "the nation has failed to reduce the prevalence of untreated tooth decay among certain populations...limited access to dental care is a persistent factor contributing to oral health inequities among racial and ethnic minorities, low-income individuals, older Americans, rural residents, and other marginalized groups." (February 9, 2022)

America’s shockingly poor dental system, poverty and poor diets are to blame. Fluoridation can't fix that."

"CDC reports show that among working-age US adults, over 40% of low-income and non-Hispanic Black adults have untreated tooth decay. Roughly another 40% of adults with low income or no private health insurance have untreated cavities," according to NewsChannel5.

NIDCR  reports little improvement since the 2000 US Surgeon General’s Oral Health report revealed “a silent epidemic” and its now-failed Call to Action “to eliminate oral health disparities.”

For example, the NIDCR reports:

·  The military continues to face challenges in meeting recruitment goals and military readiness because of oral health-related issues.

·  Untreated cavities among the poor remain twice that of non-poor. Disparities persist by race/ethnicity status.

·  Primary tooth decay increased in boys aged 6-11 and didn’t change in adolescents’ and adults’ permanent teeth.

·  Untreated decay in permanent teeth shows no progress.

·   In ages 2-11, decayed tooth surfaces increased with a greater impact on boys

·   Four out of 5 Americans aged 6 years and older experience cavities, irrespective of poverty or race/ethnicity status.

·   40% of children have eroded teeth. 

Dental Therapists could alleviate the dental access problem; but the politically powerful American Dental Association (ADA) lobbies against their legalization, according to the W K Kellogg Foundation and Wendell Potter

NIDCR admits vitamin D deficiency is a cavity risk. But the ADA turned this nutritional deficiency into a profitable fluoride drug treatment (Nutrients 2021). Forty-two percent of Americans are vitamin D deficient.  None are fluoride-deficient. Fluoride, like all drugs, has side effects.

Politics, not science, supports fluoridation as evidenced by the ADA's lobbying the US National Toxicology Program to conclude fluoridation is not neurotoxic when the science says it is - even though adverse health effects, outside of the oral cavity from ingested fluoride, are not within the purview of dentistry, according to the California Board of Dental Examiners. 4433/http://www.nofluoride.com/cal_dental_examiners.cfm

Few know that fluoridation chemicals aren't natural, but are lead- and arsenic-laced waste products of phosphate fertilizer manufacturing (hydrofluosilicic acid or sodium fluoride) which often requires adding an acid-neutralizing chemical to the water such as sodium hydroxide.

Artificial fluoridation is outdated, unscientific, ineffective, unnecessary, politically motivated, harmful and must cease across the US

A prominent professor and former public health dentist writes, "Pro-fluoridationists should not make the mistake of concluding that the anti-fluoridationists are all quacks or believers in conspiracies. This is a serious court case, and it behooves all interested parties to take the case and the evidence seriously." (Nutrients 2022 "Fluoride: From Nutrient to Suspected Neurotoxin")

Many fluoridation reviews consistently found fluoridation studies faulty. For example:

The US National Institutes of Health (2001)

The UK York Review of Fluoride (2003)

Chairman of the US National Research Council's Report on Fluoride (2006)

UK Cochrane Research Group (2015)

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry (2016)

Journal of Risk Assessment (2016). 

New York State Communities which have stopped or rejected fluoridation are:  Suffolk, Nassau & Rockland counties, the capital city of Albany, Elba, Naples, Levittown, Canton, Corning, Johnstown, Oneida, Carle Place, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Riverhead, Central Bridge Water District, Homer, Ithaca, Rouses Point, Pulaski, Romulus, Rockville Center, Amsterdam, Walden, Glens Falls and Manhasset 

NYS Dept of Health statistics show there is no correlation between the fluoridation rate of a county and tooth decay rates: or to fewer dental-related hospital ER visits for toddlers 

More specific information about NYS, fluoridation and tooth decay here: https://fluoridedangers.blogspot.com/2005/12/fluoridation-fails-new-york-state.html

It's not just New York, in Florida, despite a 78.5% fluoridation rate "Cavities, abscesses, tooth decay are driving children to Florida emergency rooms" The reason, as always, is lack of dental care - not lack of fluoride  "Only about 8% of [Florida's] licensed dentists participate in the Medicaid program"

Kentucky is the US. state with the 2nd highest percentage of residents with fluoridated drinking water (99.9% - CDC, 2020) due to the legislature mandating the practice in 1994. RESULTS: Kentucky Leads the Nation in the Number of Toothless Adults 

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Details  about above-listed scientific reviews which report fluoridation studies are faulty.

2001 -- An NIH panel reviewing tooth decay research was disappointed in the overall quality of the clinical data that it reviewed. According to the panel, "far too many studies were small, poorly described, or otherwise methodologically flawed." Over 560 studies evaluated fluoride.

"If the current weak trend of caries research in the United States continues, history will be harsh on all of us for our failure to use our knowledge and resources to reduce, if not eliminate, the burden of one of the world's most prevalent diseases," wrote Amid Ismail, BDS, Professor, University of Michigan School of Dentistry in a report to the panel.

2001 -- The CDC reports: "The prevalence of dental caries in a population is not inversely related to the concentration of fluoride in enamel  and a higher concentration of enamel fluoride is not necessarily more efficacious in preventing dental caries." 

2003 -- When members of the 2000 York Review of fluoridation found their work was being misrepresented by fluoidationists, they corrected the misreporting by writing a statement,: What the 'York Review' on the fluoridation of drinking water really found. "We were unable to discover any reliable good-quality evidence in the fluoridation literature world-wide....The evidence about reducing inequalities in dental health was of poor quality, contradictory and unreliable."

2006 -- Chairman of the National Research Council Report on Fluoride Toxicity (Toxicologist John Doull) wrote: "What the committee found is that we've gone with the status quo regarding fluoride for many years--for too long, really--and now we need to take a fresh look. In the scientific community, people tend to think this is settled.  I mean, when the US surgeon general comes out and says this is one of the 10 greatest achievements of the 20th century, that's  a hard hurdle to get over. But when we looked at the studies that have been done, we found that many of these questions are unsettled and we have much less information than we should, considering how long this [fluoridation] has been going on. I think that's why fluoridation is still being challenged so many years after it began. In the face of ignorance, controversy is rampant."

2015 -- After reviewing all available fluoridation studies, the independent and trusted UK-based Cochrane group of researchers could not find any quality evidence to prove fluoridation changes the "existing differences in tooth decay across socioeconomic groups." Neither could they find valid evidence that fluoride reduces adults' cavity rates nor that fluoridation cessation increases tooth decay.

Fluoridation may reduce cavities in children (2 primary teeth or 1 permanent tooth). But Cochrane cautions these studies have "high risk of bias" and were mostly done before preventive measures were widespread, e.g. fluoridated toothpaste and sealants.

2015 -- Newsweek reports that scientists, who were assigned to review fluoridation research, are shocked at the lack of valid fluoridation-supporting evidence. Government agencies have a long history of minimizing reviews critical of fluoridation science.

2016 -- Sicca, et al. analyzed thirty systematic reviews on tooth decay prevention, from 2002 – 2015, and report “there is not sufficient evidence to determine whether the use [of] water fluoridation has a significant impact in the reduction of caries.” (Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry)

2023  - A suppressed National Toxicology Program fluoride report which government officials tried to hide from the public was revealed via a freedom of in formation request concluded "The data support a consistent inverse association between fluoride exposure and children's IQ"

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