Damming US Govt report released on Fluoride and IQ loss - Like putting lead back in petrol

The US National Toxicology Program (an Interagency run by the US Government’s Health and Human Services)  released a draft report last Wednesday (15th March) linking prenatal and childhood fluoride exposure to reduced IQ in children, after public health officials tried for almost a year to block its publication. The report has been six years in the making and has been peer-reviewed multiple times.

A court order stemming from a lawsuit filed by Food and Water Watch and Fluoride Action Network against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) forced the report’s release.

The report said that total exposure to fluoride can be reached in communities with water fluoridated at 0.7ppm results in measurable IQ loss.(see pages 310, 346 and 352). NZ research on lead shows that the level of IQ loss results in measurable negative life outcomes in terms of employment, income, and social mobility.

Research on other neurotoxins has shown that a small population-level effect can have significant impact on individuals at the high and low ends of a population curve. The NTP noted that “For example a 5-point decrease in a population’s IQ would nearly double the number of people classified as intellectually disabled.” 

These findings fly in the face of the empty, unscientific claims health officials have propagated for years, namely that water fluoridation is safe. It’s well past time to eliminate this neurotoxin from our water supply.

NTP said “Our meta-analysis confirms results of previous meta-analyses and extends them by including newer, more precise studies with individual-level exposure measures.”

“The data support a consistent inverse association between fluoride exposure and children’s IQ …”
“The results were robust to stratifications by risk of bias, gender, age group, outcome assessment, study location, exposure timing, and exposure type (including both drinking water and urinary fluoride).”

Of the 19 high-quality studies assessing the association between fluoride and IQ in children, 18 reported an association between higher fluoride exposure and lower IQ in children. Forty-six of the 53 low-quality studies also found evidence of that association.

The assessment of studies completely contradicts the claims of the Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister (CSAPM). NTP found that the key studies – Bashash, Green and Till, were of high quality and low risk of bias, while the Broadbent study that did not find an association was poor quality at high risk of bias. The report to the Director-General of Health relies on the CSAPM as key advice in its recommendation to direct local councils to fluoridate their water supplies.

For communities that have previously ceased fluoridation, like New Plymouth, Waipukurau, Ashburton, Timaru and Tauranga, these directives are like telling them to put lead back in petrol. We would be outraged if that happened. We must be equally outraged that fluoridation is being forced on the NZ public, and demand an immediate end to this ineffective and demonstrably unsafe practice.

More information:
Government Report Finds No Safe Level of Fluoride in Water; Fluoridation Policy Threatened
Suppressed Government Report Finding Fluoride Can Reduce Children's IQ Made Public Under EPA Lawsuit