For decades, fluoride has been marketed and heralded as essential for
good dental hygiene and used in most toothpastes and mouthwashes. In
addition, parents have been routinely encouraged to give their kids
cavity-fighting fluoride treatments when they visit the dentist.
Beginning
in the late 1940s, aided by mass industry lead lobbying campaigns, the
government encouraged municipal water authorities to add fluoride to
their community’s drinking water. According to the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), approximately 70 percent of the U.S. population ingests
fluoride through their community drinking water today and they want this
percentage to continue to climb. This is in stark contrast to other
developed European nations were fluoride is rarely added to drinking
water – Britain provides only about 10 percent of their population with
fluoridated water.
The “experts” and the government told us
fluoride would strengthen tooth enamel, help prevent tooth decay and is,
of course, perfectly safe.
“Community water fluoridation is an
equitable, cost-effective, and cost-saving method of delivering fluoride
to most people,” noted Dr. William Maas, director of CDC’s Division of
Oral Health.
But that was then and this is now.
In a surprising reversal,
last month EPA’s announced that it intends to lower the maximum amount
of fluoride in drinking water because of growing evidence supporting the
chemical’s possible deleterious effects to children’s health.
In
2006, the National Academy of Sciences report that found dental
fluorosis – caused by too much fluoride – capable of putting children at
risk of developing other dental problems including the breakdown of
tooth enamel, discoloration and pitting.
January’s EPA
recommendation reversal was made following a revised risk assessment
study that found 2 out of 5 adolescents had tooth streaking or
spottiness and some pitting as a result of excessive fluoride. In
addition, other studies have found excessive ingestion of fluoride
capable of increasing the risk of brittle bones leading to fractures and
debilitating bone abnormalities.
There have always been fluoride
critics who questioned the chemical’s safety and challenged the decision
to use fluoride in municipal drinking water. According to the Los
Angeles Times, back in 2005, “the heads of 11 EPA unions, including
those representing the agency’s scientists, demanded that EPA reduce the
permissible level of added fluoride in water to zero, citing research
suggesting it can cause cancer. Other studies have pointed to
neurotoxicity and hormone disruption from excessive fluoride”.
It has taken the government more than 60 years to recognize – some
would argue admit – that American children have been overexposed to this
toxic, potentially harmful chemical.In response to the EPA’s
sudden announcement, Jane Houlihan, senior vice-president of the
Washington based non-profit Environmental Working Group, said, “this
decision is another signal to the public to take care when it comes to
exposures to industrial chemicals. What is considered safe today won’t
necessarily be thought safe tomorrow.”
Our government has a pretty
abysmal track record when it comes acknowledging the potential health
risks associated with certain chemicals, particularly when its agencies
have already determined these products as “safe”, encouraged, and in
some cases mandated their use. So it is somewhat encouraging to see the
EPA acknowledging the need to revise their position on fluoride and
should be commended for it.
Nonetheless, here is yet another
example of why consumers, especially parents, need to be vigilant, do
their own research and understand that sometimes the “experts” and the
government can be wrong.
NOTE: A reverse osmosis system is needed to remove fluoride from drinking water.
Read here how the CDC still insists on getting even more poison in your water (in their own words):
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080710.htm
More on the battle:
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