Water fluoridation found to increase blood lead
Water fluoridation has long been a controversial topic, and a Google search brings up thousands of sites discussing the pros and cons of this practice. In theory, fluoride is added to drinking water to protect us from cavities.
In reality, there is little evidence that water fluoridation does any good. Although there are studies showing the protective effects of fluoride, they are based on its topical application to teeth, not adding it to drinking water.
Fluoride is actually an industrial by-product that is toxic and would normally be disposed of as any other environmental hazard. Critics of water fluoridation hold that fluoride should be
carefully eliminated from the environment, not added to drinking water and thus endangering our health and adding to the burden of pollutants in our bodies.
An interesting and well-referenced article on this topic can be found at www.suite101.com/article.cfm/11749/109036
The author – a self-appointed fluoride researcher – discusses a recent study showing that fluoridation causes children to absorb more lead and retain it longer in their bodies.
Lead is not only known to lower IQ and cause hyperactivity, autism, and more, it is also – believe it or not – itself a cause of cavities. This may be the reason why, when fluoridation
was discontinued in some European countries cavity rates went down (see Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, Oct. 2000; 28: 382-9 also reported at
www.mercola.com/2000/oct/29/fluoride_cavities.htm).
