Certain Fluoride Unsafe for Children's Developing Brains

Author: New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.
Published: 2020/03/02 - Updated: 2023/09/16
Publication Type: Informative
Category Topic: Youth and Disability - Academic Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: 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. The time has come for health agencies in the US and elsewhere to revisit the fluoride regulations and make it a priority to protect the brains of the next generation.

Introduction

"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 [brain] development," writes Harvard Professor and researcher Phillipe Grandjean(1), MD, in a review of recent fluoride neurotoxicology research (Environmental Health(2) Dec 2019); reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. (NYSCOF).

Main Content

Fluoridation began without brain-safety evidence seven decades ago. Today, 400+ studies(3) link fluoride to neurological effects - providing evidence that fluoride can be perilous to babies' brains, especially.

Grandjean, who studies how environmental chemicals affect children's brain development, says fluoridation benefits appear minimal. But, the evidence base for fluoride's brain damage greatly expanded and is likely underestimated, he explains.

"The time has come for health agencies in the US and elsewhere to revisit the fluoride regulations and make it a priority to protect the brains of the next generation," he writes(4). "Elevations in human exposures [from multiple sources] may well exceed the [fluoride] levels that human metabolism can successfully accommodate."

Fluoridation produced a fluoridated food supply and lucrative marketing of hundreds of fluoridated dental products. The result: fluoride overdose (dental fluorosis) grew in severity and prevalence(5).

That dental fluorosis is merely of cosmetic concern is unconvincing. Fluorosis can be a useful biomarker for fluoride's brain exposure, Grandjean suggests.

Several studies, specifically, associate dental fluorosis with children's intellectual deficits (e.g. Yu, et al. (6)).

Continued below image.

Illustration of a tooth surrounded by red, white, and blue toothpaste in simulated atom orbits.

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The view that fluoride is primarily a developmental neurotoxicant means that fluoride - an element like lead, mercury, and arsenic - can adversely affect children's brain development at exposures much below that of adults, he cautions.

When environmental chemicals affect developing brains, children risk cognitive deficits, learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, and other disorders that remain for a lifetime, explains Grandjean in his recent book (7). He laments that vested interests often manipulate credible chemical brain-drain(8) research to manufacture unfounded uncertainties to wrongly discredit respected scientists' conclusions and credibility.

"This is a common tactic of fluoridationists," says attorney Paul Beeber, NYSCOF President. "Few lobbied legislators understand fluoridation science. Lawmakers should err on the side of caution - not ignorance or from political pressure."

Studies already link fluoride to ADHD(9), lower IQ(10), Autism(11), poor memory(12), dementia(13), and Alzheimer's Disease(14).

References

(1) - Philippe Grandjean, MD.
(2) - Developmental fluoride neurotoxicity: an updated review.
(3) - Fluoride Alert.
(4) - Chemical Brain Drain.
(5) - Dental Fluorosis Trends in United States Oral Health Surveys: 1986 - 2012.
(6) - Threshold effects of moderately excessive fluoride exposure on children's health: A potential association between dental fluorosis and loss of excellent intelligence.
(7) - Only one chance: How environmental pollution impairs brain development-and how to protect the brains of the next generation.
(8) - Chemical Brain Drain.
(9) - Association of water fluoride and urinary fluoride concentrations with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Canadian youth.
(10) - Fluoride & IQ: The 64 Studies.
(11) - Chronic Fluoride Exposure and the Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
(12) - The Auditory Working Memory of 13-15-Year-Old Adolescents Using Water with Varying Fluoride Concentrations from Selected Public Primary Schools in North Kajiado Sub County.
(13) - Aluminium and fluoride in drinking water in relation to later dementia risk.
(14) - Potential Role of Fluoride in the Etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease.

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. and published on 2020/03/02, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.