Thought for Food Blog

Is Fluoride Safe?

Fluoride in drinking water was originally added in the 1940s to prevent tooth decay. Studies have now shown that fluoride causes dental fluorosis – developmental disturbance of dental enamel caused by excessive exposure to high concentrations of fluoride during tooth development – in 10 percent of those who consume it.

Even more disturbing than the cosmetic impact that fluoride can have on teeth, research is also linking fluoride to increased risk of cancer (particularly bone cancer), gene mutations, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity (hyper or depressed activity) and bone fluorosis (decreasing density).

Dental Hygiene | IFIS Publishing

In 1999, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Headquarters Union of Scientists took a stand opposing fluoridation of drinking water supplies.

The fluoride used for water fluoridation does not have U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and sodium fluoride is considered by the FDA as an ‘unapproved drug’. A common sense approach must be adopted and the proper use of any drug requires an understanding of how much is too much.

Since fluoride is already in many foods and beverages, an estimated total intake of existing fluoride amounts is absolutely crucial. In the US, some research has shown fluoridation to be unnecessary since Americans are already receiving 300 percent or more of the American Dental Association's (ADA) recommended daily amount.

Furthermore, as stated by Dr. Arvid Carlsson, the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2000:

I am quite convinced that water fluoridation, in a not-too-distant future, will be consigned to medical history...Water fluoridation goes against leading principles of pharmacotherapy, which is progressing from a stereotyped medication - of the type 1 tablet 3 times a day - to a much more individualized therapy as regards both dosage and selection of drugs. The addition of drugs to the drinking water means exactly the opposite of an individualized therapy.

Dr. Peter Mansfield, a physician from the UK and advisory board member of a government review of fluoridation – Systematic review of water fluoridation, McDonagh et al, 2000 – argued:

No physician in his right senses would prescribe for a person he has never met, whose medical history he does not know, a substance which is intended to create bodily change, with the advice: 'Take as much as you like, but you will take it for the rest of your life because some children suffer from tooth decay.' It is a preposterous notion.

(Image Credit: Wesley Ferreira Oliveira at www.freeimages.com)



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