Even though water fluoridation is touted by the American government as being a great boon to dental health, the truth is that the practice leads to decreased intelligence, as well as to a number of other negative repercussions on health. Fluoridation has the potential to reduce children’s intelligence quotients by about seven points, cause fluorosis, and even increase susceptibility to problems such as heart disease and lead poisoning.
The vast majority of water in the United States contains added fluoride. According to the CDC, in 2010, the water supply of “73.9% of the U.S. population on community water systems,” in other words, the water supply of “about 204.3 million” Americans, was fluoridated (CDC 4).
While the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), reflecting mainstream opinion, holds the practice of water fluoridation to be a measure of “effective public health intervention to reduce tooth decay and promote good oral health” (CDC 4), claiming that “community water fluoridation has been a safe and healthy way to effectively prevent tooth decay [for 65 years]” (CDC 1), there is abounding evidence that shows that, in reality, fluoride is not as effective at preventing decay as many believe, and that fluoridation leads to reduced intelligence, among other negative effects on health like heart disease, fluorosis, bone problems, and an increased susceptibility to lead poisoning.
That fluoridation leads to reduced intelligence has been proven by at least 37 studies, which “[we]re based on IQ examinations of over 11,000 children” and have been reviewed peer-reviewed by the NRC and EPA (FAN 3). “27 of these studies” were reviewed by “a team of Harvard scientists,” who “concluded that fluoride’s effect on the young brain should now be a ‘high research priority’” after seeing the strong correlation between “elevated fluoride exposure” and lower IQs (FAN 3). The studies were done in China, India, Iran, and Mexico, and most communities involved were exposed to fluoride through their water (FAN 3). The Harvard analysis found that “[t]he average loss in IQ was … a standardized weighted mean difference of 0.45, which would be approximately equivalent to seven IQ points …” (Harvard). To state it simply, it was found that fluoridated water, just on average, can drop a child’s IQ by as much as seven points.
One of these studies, carried out by Lin in 1991, found that “IQ reductions have been significantly associated with fluoride levels of just 0.88 mg/L among children with iodine deficiency” (FAN 3). Knowing this amount may prompt the question, “How much fluoride, then, do we have in our water?” The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) states that the federally authorized maximum contaminant level (MCL) “for fluoride is 4.0 mg/L” (EPA). This limit clearly exceeds the 0.88 mg/L level that caused IQ reductions in Lin’s study. Admittedly, states’ requirements are often stricter; for example, California’s MCL is only 2 ppm (equivalent to 2.0 mg/L) (CDPH). However, it is evident, again, that even the amount such restrictions call for significantly exceed the amount shown to be able to reduce intelligence in the aforementioned research.