The World Health Organization (WHO) set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water at 1.5 milligrams per liter. Still, the US government report found that drinking water containing slightly more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is associated with lower IQs in children. Having read the US government’s report, I could not find a justification using the primary data for why they chose that 1.5 mg/l. cut off for toxicity. Could it be that stating that the WHO is advocating for a potentially toxic dosing strategy for fluoridated water was probably a step too far for the National Toxicology Program when writing the report?
Humans vary enormously in the amount of water they drink per day. Studies show that warm climates, seasonal variations in temperature – particularly in warmer climates, age, BMI, and pregnancy all affect the amount of water a person consumes.
Of note, women in later pregnancy drink much more water per body weight. Infants consume a much larger volume of water per body weight. Herein lies the problem. As fluoridation in the water system is based on a weight/water volume (mg/liter) ratio, the more a person drinks, the more fluoride one consumes. Obese pregnant women living in warmer climates, without access to air conditioning, are likely to consume a much higher amount of water daily. By adding fluoride to the water, the amount consumed by any one individual will vary widely.
Furthermore, fluoride, which is put into toothpaste and other products, is routinely given to pregnant women, babies, and young children. The frequency of tooth brushing, fluoride ratio, and fluoride composition found in toothpaste formulas vary greatly.
Fluoride supplements are also often prescribed to pregnant mothers. Young children are often subjected to fluoride varnishing treatments and/or the use of fluoridated mouthwashes, gels, and toothpaste, particularly when fluoridated water is not available.
In rural settings, where people have well-water, women are often encouraged to take fluoride supplements, particularly in previous decades. For instance, when my wife, Jill, was pregnant with our first child in 1984, she was prescribed a fluoride supplement with the warning from her OB/gyn that tooth buds are formed in the neonate and that fluoride supplementation is necessary to prevent tooth decay.
The point is that 1) fluoride from drinking water can vary widely between individuals (warmer weather, pregnancy, individual drinking habits, weight, etc.), and 2) there are also other sources of fluoride, which can significantly increase a pregnant mother’s fluoride intake.
So, the WHO’s recommendation of 1.5 mg/L. is extremely high, given that women get fluoride from many different sources, not just water, and babies drink a lot of volume compared to body weight – particularly in warmer climates.
Worldwide health policies, conducted on millions, if not billions of people, can lead to vast numbers of people being adversely affected if those policies are later proven detrimental to health and wellness. In this case, millions of children will suffer from neurobehavioral challenges, making adult relationships difficult and cognitive issues.
Did the WHO purposefully ignore the warning signals that over-fluoridation of pregnant mothers and children could lead to decreased IQ and neuro-behavioral issues? Given that these peer-reviewed studies began to be published at least five years ago, they must have known these guidelines were wrong (1), (2), (3), (4).
So, why does the WHO still recommend supplementation with 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter?
Original article online at: https://www.malone.news/p/fluoride-can-it-be-so-simple