Fluoride May Damage the Brain, New Report Says

New York – February 26, 2008 -- "It is not clear that the benefits of adding fluoride to drinking water outweigh risks of neurodevelopment or other effects such as dental fluorosis," according to an Institute for Children's Environmental Health report. (1)

Fluoride chemicals are added to 2/3 of U.S. public water supplies ostensibly to reduce tooth decay. Fluoride is found in dental products, supplements and virtually all foods and beverages (2).

"Excessive fluoride ingestion is known to lower thyroid hormone levels, which is particularly critical for women with subclinical hypothyroidism; decreased maternal thyroid levels adversely affect fetal neurodevelopment," reports a prestigious committee of scientists and health professionals in a “Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.”

Studies they reviewed and others link fluoride to brain abnormalities and/or IQ deficits. (3)

"The question is what level of exposure results in harmful effects to children. The primary concern is that multiple routes of exposure, from drinking water, food and dental care products, may result in a high enough cumulative exposure to fluoride to cause developmental effects," they write.

"Given the serious consequences of LDDs [learning and developmental disabilities], a precautionary approach is warranted to protect the most vulnerable of our society," the authors caution.

"It's time to stop water fluoridation," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. “With many neurological diseases, such as autism and ADD, afflicting too many American children, fluoride's dubious promises of less cavities no longer outweigh fluoride's serious health risks," says Beeber.

The National Research Council reviewed fluoride toxicology evidence and reported in March 2006 that studies linking fluoride to lowered IQ are plausible.(3a)

"The real dental dilemma facing American children today is their inability to get dental care," says Beeber. “Eighty-percent of dentists refuse Medicaid patients (4) and 108 million Americans don’t have dental insurance (5),” says Beeber.

Studies show that when fluoridation ends, cavities actually go down. (6)

Please sign the petition urging Congress to end fluoridation and hold hearings about why federal officials continue to promote water fluoridation in the face of growing scientific evidence of harm at http://www.FluorideAlert.org/Congress .

Dr. Phyllis Mullenix was the first U.S. scientist to find evidence that fluoride damages the brain. She published her study in a respected peer-reviewed scientific journal (7) and then was fired because she wouldn’t squelch it.(8)




References:

1) Institute for Children's Environmental Health, “Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents

Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders,”

Developed by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s

Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative

November 7, 2007 released February 20, 2008

http://www.iceh.org/pdfs/LDDI/LDDIStatement.pdf

2) USDA National Fluoride Database of Selected
Beverages and Foods - 2004 http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/Fluoride.html
3) http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/brain/index.html#human



3a) The National Academies of Science, Committee on Fluoride in
Drinking Water, National Research Council, "Fluoride in Drinking
Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards," March 2006

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11571.html?onpi_newsdoc03222006



4) Slate, “Hidden Rations Why poor kids can't find a dentist,” by Anne Alstott
May 29, 2007 http://www.slate.com/id/2167190/


5) American Dental Education Association/American Association for Dental Research Testimony presented by Dr. Nick Mosca

March 27, 2007 Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee



http://www.iadr.com/files/public/LA07testimonyMosca.pdf



6) http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/fluoridepr.htm



7) Mullenix P, et al. (1995). “Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride in Rats,” Neurotoxicology and Teratology 17:169-177)



Dr. Phyllis Mullenix interview:

http://www.fluoridealert.org/mullenix-interview.htm



Videos: Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9daqPRUWpMc



Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4QrTcyrrvw





SOURCE: NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc

PO Box 263

Old Bethpage, NY 11804

http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

http://www.FluorideAction.Net

In a statement first released August 9, 2007, over 1,500 professionals urge Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted. They cite new scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks. (http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html)

Signers include a Nobel Prize winner, three members of the prestigious 2006 National Research Council (NRC) panel that reported on fluoride’s toxicology, two officers in the Union representing professionals at EPA headquarters, the President of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, and hundreds of medical, dental, academic, scientific and environmental professionals, worldwide.

Signer Dr. Arvid Carlsson, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Medicine, says, “Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology. It's really obsolete.”

An Online Action Petition to Congress in support of the Professionals' Statement is available on FAN's web site, www.fluorideaction.org/congress .

“The NRC report dramatically changed scientific understanding of fluoride's health risks," says Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network. "Government officials who continue to promote fluoridation must testify under oath as to why they are ignoring the powerful evidence of harm in the NRC report,” he added.

The Professionals’ Statement also references:

-- The new American Dental Association policy recommending infant formula NOT be prepared with fluoridated water.
-- The CDC’s concession that the predominant benefit of fluoride is topical not systemic.
-- CDC data showing that dental fluorosis, caused by fluoride over-exposure, now impacts one third of American children.
-- Major research indicating little difference in decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities.
-- A Harvard study indicating a possible link between fluoridation and bone cancer.
-- The silicofluoride chemicals used for fluoridation are contaminated industrial waste and have never been FDA- approved for human ingestion.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a DC watchdog, revealed that a Harvard professor concealed the fluoridation/bone cancer connection for three years. EWG President Ken Cook states, “It is time for the US to recognize that fluoridation has serious risks that far outweigh any minor benefits, and unlike many other environmental issues, it's as easy to end as turning off a valve at the water plant.”

Further, researchers reporting in the Oct 6 2007 British Medical Journal indicate that fluoridation, touted as a safe cavity preventive, never was proven safe or effective and may be unethical. (1)

In New York State, Cobeskill stopped 54 years of fluoridation in 2007, the Central Bridge Water District stopped fluoridation in 2006, Homer in 2005, Canton in 2003. Oneida rejected fluoridation in 2002. Ithaca rejected fluoridation in 2002. Johnstown rejected it in 1999. Before that several towns in Nassau County stopped fluoridation. Suffolk County rejected fluoridation in the 1990's.

On October 2, 2007 Juneau Alaska voters rejected fluoridation despite the American Dental Association's $150,000 political campaign to return fluoride into the water supply after the legislative body voted it out.

Many communities rejected or stopped fluoridation over the years. See: http://www.fluoridealert.org/communities.htm


SOURCE: Fluoride Action Network http://www.FluorideAction.Net


References:

(1) “Adding fluoride to water supplies,” British Medical Journal, KK Cheng, Iain Chalmers, Trevor A. Sheldon, October 6, 2007

Take Action to End Fluoridation

Online Petition to End Fluoridation and call for a Congressional Hearing

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2477/t/2782/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=21960

or

http://www.fluorideaction.net/congress


Sponsored by the Fluoride Action Network http://FluorideAction.Net