More Studies Link Fluoride to Brain Damage

Legislators Are Mislead About Gravity and Extent of Fluoride Brain Risk

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --  Newly discovered and translated published studies reveal fluoride is linked to lower IQ, even at levels added to US water supplies, reports the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Further, fluoridation promoters misrepresented newly published Harvard fluoride/IQ research.

Thirty-four studies now link fluoride to reduced IQ in humans. Dozens of other studies correlate fluoride to impaired learning and memory, altered neurobehavioral function, fetal brain damage, and altered thyroid hormone levels. Full studies available at FAN's website http://www.fluoridealert.org/articles/iq-facts/

"Legislators who mandate fluoridation without carefully considering this research are doing a profound disservice to the health and welfare of their constituents," says attorney Michael Connett of FAN.

Harvard researchers recently concluded, after reviewing 27 fluoride/IQ studies, that fluoride's effect on children's developing brains should be a "high research priority" especially in the US which has never investigated brain/fluoride effects.

Fluoridation advocates, however, misinterpreted this research and mislead legislators in Phoenix, Portland, Wichita and elsewhere by stating the Harvard research isn't relevant to Americans. Advocates claimed the Harvard study found only a ½ point difference in IQ, and that the fluoride levels were much higher than Americans experience.

That's wrong. The Harvard team found that fluoride exposure was associated with a statistically significant reduction of 7 IQ points, not the ½ point claimed by advocate, Dr. Myron Allukian.  The Pew Children's Dental Campaign and other fluoridation advocates, including Allukian and Portland Mayor Sam Adams, have stated the Harvard study focused on fluoride levels of 11.5 mg/l.  Only one of the studies, however, was at 11.5 mg/l.

The majority of water studies examined by the Harvard team investigated fluoride levels which the US EPA says is safe – less than 4 mg/l.

• One study, sponsored by UNICEF, found reduced IQ at just 0.88 mg/l – a level within the "optimal" fluoride range added to the drinking water of over 200 million Americans.
• Seven found reduced IQs among children drinking water with fluoride levels between 2.1 and 4 mg/l — levels that 1.4 million Americans drink everyday.
• Four found effects at levels between 1.8 and 2.0 mg/l — levels that over 200,000 Americans drink everyday.

EPA's conventional approach to risk assessment limits chemical exposure to levels ten times less than those known to cause adverse effects. With fluoride and IQ, the levels of fluoride in water and urine are — at most — just two or three times more than the amount experienced by tens of millions of American children

Children with iodine deficiencies are particularly harmed by fluoride. And iodine deficiency has increased significantly, now affecting up to 12% of the US population.

"The question legislators should be asking themselves is 'Do I wait until public health officials catch up with the scientific literature that now shows fluoride can cause serious neurological harm to children, or do I take my leadership role seriously and stop fluoridation immediately," says FAN Executive Director, Paul Connett, Ph.D. "I think the latter is the only ethical answer."

SOURCE Fluoride Action Network