A study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives (Sept. 19), shows child brain damage occurs when pregnant mothers drink waters fluoridated at the so-called “optimum levels” (0.7 mg/L).

They will give birth to children who likely will have meaningfully lowered cognitive function at 4 years old, and at 6-12 years old, about half of these children are likely to have meaningfully lowered IQ.

Figure 2 on page 9 of this article (and text at pages 8-9) show that as maternal urinary fluoride during pregnancy increases from 0.25 to 2.8 mg/L, the General Cognitive Index of their offspring at 4 years old will, on average, decrease linearly by 3.15 points for each increase of 0.5 mg/L in maternal urinary fluoride.

The article at page 3 states the General Cognitive Index score evaluates a child’s “verbal, perceptual-performance, quantitative, memory and motor abilities.”

The article itself did not study the relationship between pregnant mothers’ maternal urinary fluoride and their drinking water fluoride levels but at page 10 does provide this information from other studies.

In 57 previous human studies of impacts of fluoride on brains, only seven failed to find harm.

Women who are or could be pregnant should avoid fluoride as much as possible, including avoiding fluoridated water.

Eloise Kailin,
Sequim

Kailin is chair of the anti-fluoridation group Our Water, Our Choice!, an organizer of the environmental group Protect the Peninsula’s Future and a retired board-certified allergy and immunology physician.

*Original letter online at http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/letters/letter-pregnant-women-should-avoid-fluoride/