…In 2019 one of the CDC’s ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century was widely challenged. Published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics in late 2019 was the first study to estimate fluoride exposure in a large birth cohort receiving optimally fluoridated water. The study forced many to re-examine the practice of water fluoridation including the journal’s editor-in-chief himself.

Funded by the Canadian government and the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Science, the the new study titled Association Between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada examined the association between fluoride exposure during pregnancy and the IQ scores of the children at ages 3 and 4 years of age.

The scientists assessed fluoride exposure in two separate ways. They measured fluoride in women’s urine samples during pregnancy while also calculating fluoride consumption based on how much is in a city’s water supply and how much women recalled drinking.

The study found that of the 512 mother-child pairs, a 1-mg/L increase in maternal urinary fluoride was associated with a 4.49-point lower IQ score in boys.

The study’s authors concluded:

…maternal exposure to higher levels of fluoride during pregnancy was associated with lower IQ scores in children aged 3 to 4 years. These findings indicate the possible need to reduce fluoride intake during pregnancy.”

As of 2018, 53 studies [64 studies of this date] have found that elevated fluoride exposure is associated with reduced IQ in humans while 45 animal studies have found that fluoride exposure impairs the learning and/or memory capacity of animals.

Scheduled for an April 20 courtroom showdown is Food and Water Watch et al v. EPA. It represents the first time any citizen group will go to trial under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. The plaintiffs in the case are requesting a ban on the addition of fluoridation chemicals to water in order “to protect the public and susceptible subpopulations from the neurotoxic risks of fluoride.”

With Flint and now fluoride’s chances at justice, aid and real change hanging in the balance of the legal system, how will the public come to terms with the emerging PFAS contamination?

*Original article online at https://thehighwire.com/forever-chemicals-test-the-fate-of-americas-drinking-water/