The results of the first ever U.S. government funded study of fluoride/IQ have now been published. A team of researchers funded by the National Institute of Environmental Sciences — part of the National Institutes of Health — found that low levels of fluoride exposure during pregnancy are linked to significantly reduced IQ in children, according to a study published on Sept. 19 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. This study took 12 years to complete and studied in utero exposure to fluoride.
We have all seen the funniest home videos of teenagers following wisdom tooth extraction. It really is not funny when you look at the fact that 4 out of 5 drug addictions (opioids) start with a prescription from a health care professional. In the case of wisdom tooth extraction, dentists are responsible for 12 percent of prescriptions for fast-acting opioids such as Vicodin and Percocet. This ranks third among all health care professionals.
On the popular National Public Radio program “All Things Considered,” Dr. Joel Funari in Devon, Pa., says that when he started practicing 30 years ago it was common to prescribe a bottle of 30 or more narcotic (opioid) pills for wisdom tooth extraction. “Dentists don’t like to see people in pain,” Furani explains. “We tend to be compassionate people, and I think we were falling into a trap we were creating for ourselves.”
Unfortunately, many of our youth were the unintended victims of this trap. This is the same rhetoric that we have heard from a vocal local dentist, that compassion for children is his motivation for imposing public water fluoridation for all. A recent article in the Journal of the American Dental Association quotes this dentist as saying that public water fluoridation was a goal of his before he retired. Just like opioids we must look at the most recent research and not rely on emotions and what appears to be a family legacy.
How can you justify adding a known neurotoxin (with a very limited if any benefit) to the water supply if you are impairing the mental development of our children?
CHRIS KNAPP
Meadville
*Original letter online at http://www.meadvilletribune.com/opinion/letter-study-links-fluoride-exposure-in-utero-to-lower-iq/article_866a29da-a91e-11e7-8eac-3fff5d36f1dd.html
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