Abstract

Our goal was to investigate the effects of endemic fluoride poisoning on the intellectual development of children living in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. Our method was to select random child subjects from endemic fluoride areas in Baotou and use the illustrated version of the Chinese Standardized Raven Test for use with children in rural areas to test their IQ. The results showed that the average IQ of 720 children in the endemic area was 92.07 (compared to 93.78 for 236 children in the control area), with 10.38% falling into the “low” IQ category versus 4.24% in the control area. Compared with the theoretical average IQ for the Chinese children from rural areas, the average IQ of the endemic fluoride area subjects was 7.93 points lower, and the rate of underdeveloped intelligence 8% higher than the average, a very significant difference. The average IQ of children with dental fluorosis was 88.67, which was 8.12 points lower than the average for the unaffected children (96.79), and 11.69% were classified as having “low” IQ, a rate 3% higher than the children not exhibiting dental fluorosis. This indicates that children living in areas of endemic fluoride poisoning have development deficits, and that the damage to intellectual ability caused by fluoride is significant.

Translated by Julian Brooke for the Fluoride Action Network and published with the concurrence of the Chinese Journal of Public Health Management 2003:19(4):337-8 in the journal Fluoride.

 

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