Earlier this week, I posted a link on my Facebook site to an article that decries fluoride. My comment was simply "why we avoid fluoride." This sparked a polite discussion, one which has raised some questions. Does fluoride work or not? Is it safe or not? These are things that I have researched to an extent in the past, but after reading through the thread a few times, I felt that I needed to research it again and share a few articles so that I can explain why we will continue to avoid fluoride and why I feel that water fluoridation is especially dangerous to our health.
Let me just take a step back to say that I don't think that fluoride is anywhere close to the biggest health issue facing us today. But other links that I've shared haven't seemed to start any debates lately, so today I'll just stick to the fluoride issue.
There is quite a lot of information here. I really think that every article is worth looking at, particularly the professionally written ones regarding the topic of water fluoridation. Please know that my goal is not to stir up division or create controversy, but rather to offer helpful resources to others who are interested in the subject and how it pertains to our health.
fifty reasons to avoid fluoride
"The chemicals used to fluoridate water in the US are not pharmaceutical grade. Instead, they come from the wet scrubbing systems of the superphosphate fertilizer industry... These hazardous wastes have not been tested comprehensively.... Some of the earliest opponents of fluoridation were biochemists and at least 14 Nobel Prize winners are among numerous scientists who have expressed their reservations about the practice of fluoridation..."
effects of water fluoridation
"Fluoride compounds which are put in water (fluoridation), toothpaste and supplement tablets (including some vitamins) were never tested for safety before approval... A toxicologist in the United Kingdom recently found that perinatal deaths in a fluoridated area was 15% higher than in neighboring non-fluoridated areas. The fluoridated area had a higher socio-economic status and would have been expected to have less perinatal deaths. The fluoridated area also had a 30% higher rate of Down's Syndrome. Chile banned fluoridation because of research by the world-reknowned researcher, Dr Albert Schatz, which showed a link to infant deaths due to fluoridation..."
why EPA Headquarters Union of Scientists opposes fluoridation
"The implication for the general public of these calculations is clear. Recent, peer-reviewed toxicity data, when applied to EPA's standard method for controlling risks from toxic chemicals, require an immediate halt to the use of the nation's drinking water reservoirs as disposal sites for the toxic waste of the phosphate fertilizer industry..."
health effects homepage
"Fluoride, the active ingredient in many pesticides and rodenticides, is a powerful poison - more acutely poisonous than lead. Because of this, accidental over-ingestion of fluoride can cause serious toxic symptoms... According to the US National Research Council, 'it is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain'..."
the absurdities of water fluoridation
"Water fluoridation is a peculiarly American phenomenon. It started at a time when Asbestos lined our pipes, lead was added to gasoline, PCBs filled our transformers and DDT was deemed so "safe and effective" that officials felt no qualms spraying kids in school classrooms and seated at picnic tables. One by one all these chemicals have been banned, but fluoridation remains untouched..."
fluoridation as an environmental toxin
"There are no benefits to fluoridation. We actually pay the phosphate fertilizer industries for their crude hazardous waste. Fluoridation contributes to many health problems and hither dental bills, and causes more (not less) suffering. Only big business wins with fluoridation--not our children (or us)..."
professional statement calling for end to water fluoridation
"Considering the substantial variation in individual water intake, exposure to fluoride from many other sources, its accumulation in the bone and other calcifying tissues and the wide range of human sensitivity to any toxic substance, fluoridation provides NO margin of safety for many adverse effects, especially lowered thyroid function..."
fluoride education project
“Though apparently vague and non-specific, most of the symptoms of fluoride toxicity point towards some kind of profound metabolic dysfunction, and are strikingly similar to the symptoms of Hypothyroidism."
fluoridation in water supplies may not do much for cavities
"When it comes to fluoridating drinking water, Ontario and Quebec couldn't be further apart. Ontario has the country's highest rate of adding the tooth-enamel-strengthening chemical into municipal supplies, while Quebec has one of the lowest, with practically no one drinking fluoridated water. But surprisingly, the two provinces have very little difference in tooth-decay rates..."
study links fluoride to premature births
"At the request of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a National Research Council (NRC) panel of experts reviewed current fluoride toxicology. In 2006 they concluded that the maximum amount of fluoride allowed in drinking water is too high to be protective of health... Previous published research by others has shown that fluoride can interfere with the reproductive system..."
don't give fluoridated water to babies
"A recent review in The Lancet describes fluoride as 'an emerging neurotoxic substance' that may damage the developing brain. The National Research Council (NRC) has identified fluoride as an 'endocrine disrupter' that may impair thyroid function. A recent Harvard University study links fluoride to bone cancer..."
1956 letter to Minister of Health citing Dr. Weston A. Price's research
"No person of intelligence can believe that many shortages of minerals and vitamins can be compensated for by the introduction of one element--fluorine--in the liquid diet of man..."
ten facts about fluoride
"Ingestion of fluoride has little benefit, but many risks. Whereas fluoride's benefits come from topical contact with teeth, its risks to health (which involve many more tissues than the teeth) result from being swallowed..."
baby suffers because of fluoride concentrations in soy-based infant formula
"Charlie, who nearly died in infancy after being fed soy infant formula for one week, will carry a legacy throughout his life—dental fluorosis, severe and chronic gastroenteritis and bone problems..."
EPA to prohibit fluoride-based pesticide
"The EPA Office of Pesticide Program has concluded that the current legal limit of the pesticide residue on food does not adequately protect children from aggregate fluoride exposures, such as drinking water and toothpaste..."
the truth about fluoride
"Independent scientific evidence over the past 50 plus years has shown that sodium fluoride shortens our life span, promotes various cancers and mental disturbances, and most importantly, makes humans stupid, docile, and subservient, all in one neat little package..."
fluoride: worse than we thought
"The truth is that more and more evidence shows that fluorides and dental fluorosis are actually associated with increased tooth decay... It boggles the mind that a cumulative toxin and toxic waste product can be described a 'nutrient'..."
Obviously, there are differences of opinion regarding the subject. This really isn't the hill I want to die on, so to speak, but I do think it is a relevant issue to our health. There is a tremendous amount of scholarly research that indicates fluoride - particularly in the form of water fluoridation - has many dastardly side effects and should not be given en masse to the general public. Again, I am not an expert, but the research and opinions of so many scholars seems quite convincing to me, and thus I would encourage you to spend some time investigating the available research before you make up your mind.
There are many large scientific studies to show that that drinking fluoridated water has no effect on cavity reduction and to show that it causes cancer and other health problems. The best source for scientific information on fluoridation can be found here: (www.fluoridealert.org).
ReplyDeleteIf fluoride were "proven," there should be evidence of its glory in Kentucky, which has been 100% fluoridated for over 40 years. Kentucky, however, leads the nation in the number of dental cavities in children, and in the number of completely toothless adults, according to government records. The same ineffectiveness is evident in many states and cities.
Most of Europe (16 countries) has rejected fluoridation and is 98% fluoride free. and the WHO reports that they have a better tooth decay rate than any fluoridated country.
If you want fluoride in your water, put it in your own glass of water; leave the rest of us out of it.
Thanks for posting this Jamie!
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