Mercola.com
By Drs. Paul and Ellen Connett
Fluoride is Classified as a NeurotoxinPaul Connett, co-author of the book, The Case Against Fluoride, is joined by his wife, Ellen, webmaster of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), and Tara Blank, PhD, Science Liason Officer for FAN, in authoring this article on fluoride and the brain. Together they have recently provided an extensive commentary to the EPA's Office of Drinking water in response to its proposed safe reference dose for fluoride1.
In an ongoing effort to determine which chemicals may damage the developing brain, scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently conducted an extensive literature review of over 400 chemicals, including fluoride.
While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) would have us all believe that fluoride is perfectly innocuous and safe, scientists from the EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory have classified fluoride as a "chemical having substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity".2 Consistent with the EPA's conclusion, a continually growing body of human and animal research strongly suggests that fluoride can damage the developing brain.
Consider for example:
- 24 studies have now reported an association between fluoride exposure and reduced IQ in children
- Three studies have reported an association between fluoride exposure and impaired neurobehavioral development
- Three studies have reported damage to the brain of aborted fetuses in high fluoride areas, and
- Over 100 laboratory studies have reported damage to the brain and/or cognitive function among fluoride-exposed animals3.
Most of the 30 studies linking fluoride to reduced IQ, impaired neurobehavioral development, and fetal brain damage have come from China where fluoride occurs at moderate to high levels in the drinking water in what is known as "endemic areas for fluorosis." While there have been shortcomings in the methodologies of some of these studies, they have been remarkably consistent in their findings. Children exposed to excessive fluoride have been consistently observed to suffer from some form of neurological impairment...[Full Article]
