A bombshell report from the National Toxicity Program has made devastating findings regarding the health impacts of water fluoridation on American children.
A review of the literature in the study’s abstract found substantial evidence in nearly every study that there is a strong “inverse association” between childhood fluoride consumption and a child’s IQ.
“Eight of nine high-quality studies examining other cognitive or neurodevelopmental outcomes reported associations with estimated fluoride exposure. Seventy-two studies assessed the association between fluoride exposure and IQ in children. Nineteen of those studies were considered to be high quality; of these, 18 reported an inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children,” the abstract of NTP MGRAPH-08 reads.
The abstract also noted that these findings were replicable in other countries:
“The 18 studies, which include 3 prospective cohort studies and 15 cross-sectional studies, were conducted in 5 different countries.”
Moreover, the overwhelming majority of low-quality studies made similar findings as the high quality, MGRAPH-08 claims:
“Forty-six of the 53 low-quality studies in children also found evidence of an inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children.”
The discussion section of the abstract put the findings in somewhat plainer terms.
“Existing animal studies provide little insight into the question of whether fluoride exposure affects IQ. In addition, studies that evaluated fluoride exposure and mechanistic data in humans were too heterogenous [sic] and limited in number to make any determination on biological plausibility,” the MGRAPH-08 discussion section reads.
In other words, animal studies found nothing conclusive about fluoride’s effects in humans. Moreover, studies in adults were too dissimilar to reach a conclusion.
“There is, however, a large body of evidence on associations between fluoride exposure and IQ in children,” the monograph says. “There is also some evidence that fluoride exposure is associated with other neurodevelopmental and cognitive effects in children; although, because of the heterogeneity of the outcomes, there is low confidence in the literature for these other effects.”
The report concludes:
“This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher estimated fluoride exposures (e.g., as in approximations of exposure such as drinking water fluoride concentrations that exceed the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality of 1.5 mg/L of fluoride) are consistently associated with lower IQ in children. More studies are needed to fully understand the potential for lower fluoride exposure to affect children’s IQ.”
Moderate and low confidence are, respectively, the second and third highest levels of confidence out of five levels. Translated out of the scientific jargon, the report is saying that there is a credibly sourced and plausible connection suggesting childhood fluoride consumption drives down kids’ IQs, and there is reason to be suspicious that fluoridation could be linked to other cognitive problems in youths.
The full report, which is now available on the NTP’s website, is more than 324 pages long. Anti-fluoride activists have widely hailed it as a victory for their side.
“It’s about time! Despite many attempts by fluoridation stakeholders to suppress or wordsmith the finding, the NTP has said that a dose of 1.5 mg/L is neurotoxic to the developing brains of infants in the womb. Any woman who drinks 2 liters or more of ‘optimally’ fluoridated water a day receives that dose,” Dallas anti-fluoride activist Regina Imburgia said.
There had been internal attempts to halt or delay the report’s publication. Internal emails from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reveal efforts by Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Rachel Levine to delay its publication indefinitely, although the reason for this remains unclear. DX previously contacted Levine for a comment or explanation but did not receive a response.
The legal impacts of this report could be major.
There is currently a lawsuit in the Northern District of California before the Honorable Edward Chen against the Environmental Protection Agency. The case is known as Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. EPA, and if the suit is successful, it could force the EPA to ban water fluoridation. The case concluded in March, and the last docket entry is dated April 2.
However, many, including the lead plaintiff’s attorney, Michael Connett, believe Chen has been holding his ruling until the release of the NTP report.
The Dallas Express previously interviewed Connett about the dangers of fluoridation, which the lawyer noted include everything from dental fluorosis to hypothyroidism and reductions in child IQ. After the interview, Connett appeared for a screening of a documentary film about water fluoridation and participated in a Q&A panel with former State Senator Don Huffines as moderator.
Regarding the lack of choice most Americans have about fluoride consumption due to its widespread use in tap water, Huffines told DX, “This is a liberty issue; it is about forcibly medicating citizens without their consent.”
Reacting to the NTP report’s release, Huffines told DX:
“Fluoride has always been known to be poisonous to humans, and the NTP report concludes that even low levels of fluoride will cause brain damage in children. The City of Dallas and other water companies that are insidiously deliberately poisoning citizens should be held criminally and civilly accountable. All water companies must accept responsibility for their failures, immediately stop adding fluoride, and apologize to their citizens.”
Nevertheless, the CDC’s website says, “CDC named fluoridation of drinking water one of 10 great public health interventions of the 20th century because of the dramatic decline in cavities since community water fluoridation started in 1945.”
Fluoride advocates argue that direct application to the teeth can help defeat cavities through “re-mineralization.”
However, irrespective of the report’s delayed release and Chen’s stalled ruling, some jurisdictions in Texas have moved to ban fluoride in water.
“After careful consideration and thorough evaluation of scientific research, public opinion, and the potential health and environmental impacts, we have concluded that it is in the best interest of our community to discontinue the practice of water fluoridation effective December 1, 2023,” Shean R. Dalton, general manager of Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District, wrote to the residents of the small Texas town last fall.
