A government study linked high fluoride exposure to lower IQs in children. Why was it hidden?

A government study showing a link between children’s exposure to fluoride and lower intelligence has allegedly been blocked by government officials for two years.

The lawsuit was filed against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the Fluoride Action Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating about fluoride issues and public water fluoridation, says Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health for the US Department of Health and Human Services. (HHS), blocked the report from being released publicly in 2022 following pressure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the dental profession.

An EPA spokesman declined to comment. Fast company and reached out to HHS and CDC.

Last week, HHS released a report from the HHS National Toxicology Program (NTP), called the Monograph on the State of the Science on Fluoride, which found that data from human studies provide evidence that high fluoride exposure is consistently associated with decreased -IQ children. The NTP review identified 72 epidemiologic studies on the effects of fluoride exposure on children’s IQ. It concluded that fluoride exposure, such as drinking water with more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, is associated with lower IQ in children.

The NTP report was released to the public because of a lawsuit filed by the Fluoride Action Network and other groups against the EPA over the classification of fluoride as a neurotoxin. US District Court Judge Edward M. Chen could rule on the case any time now.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Fluoride Action Network obtained internal documents showing Levine denying the public release of the report, the group said. The Fluoride Action Network then called the report into evidence in its court case, and Judge Chen then forced the release of the report by court order.

Is fluoride safe or not? Experts weigh in

Critics say the report seriously undermines what the government and the dental industry have been saying for years: that fluoride is safe. In 1945, cities began adding fluoride to public tap water as a way to improve oral health and reduce cavities. Fluoridation levels vary by state, with the District of Columbia having the highest levels, and Hawaii and New Jersey the lowest.

“This report flies in the face of what we’ve been told for 75 years,” said Stuart Cooper, executive director of the Fluoride Action Network. “They have put their trust in medical care for it. It’s a lie too big to fail.”

The director of the NTP, Rick Woychik, says that the NTP report may provide important information to regulatory agencies that set standards for the safe use of fluoride, but it does not, and was not intended, to evaluate the benefits of fluoride.

The American Dental Association (ADA) defends the practice of water fluoridation and issued a statement asserting that the association does not believe that the new report provides any new or conclusive evidence that should require changes in current fluoridation practices. “Community water fluoridation has been praised by the Centers for Disease Control as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements,” said Dr. Linda Edgar, president of the ADA, in a statement.

Greg Kail, a spokesman for the American Water Works Association, says he doesn’t believe water systems will change course because of the NTP review.

“Recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water [0.7] parts per million, which is less than half the level of potential concern in the NTP review,” Kail wrote in an email. Fast company. “The American Dental Association, the Centers for Disease Control and other leading health organizations support the flow of public water at an appropriate level to achieve desirable public health benefits.”

Cooper says as many as 1,473 local communities have voluntarily ended waterlogging programs since 2010, with at least 30 to 40 more in the past few months.

The NTP study began in 2016, and the final study underwent two peer reviews from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and experts from several federal health agencies, and a third review by a panel of outside experts.

“This is a landmark study,” said Ashley Malin, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who has been researching the effects of fluoride exposure for a decade. He says it’s the most thorough, comprehensive report of its kind, and the first time a government agency has made a decision about the potential impact of fluoride on a child’s IQ.

Malin’s 2015 study linked high fluoride levels to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Subsequent studies found the same. At least 7.1 million children and teens in the US will be diagnosed with ADHD by 2022, an increase of one million from 2016, according to the CDC.

Malin says the practice of fluoridating the community, or fluoridating tap water, can involve other metal exposures. The process usually involves adding sodium fluoride, fluorosilicic acid, or sodium fluorosilicate, which is commonly produced as a phosphate fertilizer, and studies show that it can contain barium, arsenic and high levels of aluminum, too, when combined and disinfecting agents such as chlorine, can remove lead from lead pipes.

Cooper hopes the report will end the controversy over fluoride as a neurotoxin. He says water treatment plants don’t have to invest in major system changes to stop fluoride exposure in the community; they have to turn off the injection machines.

“They will save money and stop hurting people,” said Cooper. “The hole can be filled, but the brain damage is permanent.”