Does Fluoridation Cause Brain Damage?

In a new review that is sure to raise some concern among parents, researchers have concluded that prolonged ingestion of fluoride may cause significant damage to the brain. In children especially the risk is greater because the damage may remain undetected for 20 years or more.

Researcher Valdez-Jimenez and his team said that toothpastes and other products containing fluoride were harmful to children,

“It is important to be aware of this serious problem and avoid the use of toothpaste and items that contain fluoride, particularly in children as they are more susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride. Fluoride can be toxic by ingesting one part per million (ppm), and the effects are not immediate, as they can take 20 years or more to become evident,” they write in the report.

In the US most fluoridating drinking water contains 1 ppm fluoride in order to strengthen teeth and not to purify drinking water.

Attorney Paul Beeber, President, of New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc  (NYSCOF) says that this is increasing health risks among children.

“Fluoridation clearly jeopardizes our children and must be stopped. We can actually see how fluoride has damaged children’s teeth with dental fluorosis; but we can’t see the harm it’s doing to their brains and other organs. No U.S. researcher is even looking,” says Beeber.

The researchers reviewing different studies on fluoride found that the chemical changes the physical structure and biochemistry of the brain with prolonged use. It affects the neurological and mental development of a person and eventually may retard learning and memory.

“Fluoride is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which may cause biochemical and functional changes in the nervous system during pregnancy, since the fluoride accumulates in brain tissue before birth,” report says.

Tests done on animals show that the brain abnormalities due to fluoride presence are the same as seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

Another research done in 2008 found and reported that fluoride exposure leads to a lower IQ. In 2006 the U.S. National Research Council’s (NRC) expert fluoride panel reviewed fluoride toxicology and concluded,

“It’s apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain.” And, “Fluorides also increase the production of free radicals in the brain through several different biological pathways. These changes have a bearing on the possibility that fluorides act to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”

Times magazine in 2010 had listed Flouride as one of the Top ten common household toxins.

Although it was in 1995 that concerns about fluoride were raised by scientist Phyllis Mullenix she was fired at that time for publishing her report in a respected journal.

But the ongoing research on the subject cannot be so easily ignored now.

Vyvyan Howard, M.D., Ph.D., a prominent fetal toxicologist believes that the current research convinces him that we should stop water fluoridation.

Recently, Fairbanks, Alaska stopped fluoridation of water and in NYC seven New York City Council Members co-sponsored legislation to stop fluoridation.

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