WASHINGTON D.C (WSAU) – A newly released US government analysis found a connection between children’s lower IQ and fluoride levels in drinking water that are double the permitted level.
According to the New York Post, the 324-page study was conducted by the National Toxicology Program, which is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, highlighted data found that minors exposed to high levels of fluoride experienced a lower IQ of two to five points on average.
Soil and water naturally contain the mineral fluoride, and the discovery that people with naturally higher fluoride supplies also had lower cavities occurred about 80 years ago, which led to a campaign to increase fluoride use in the United States. Federal health regulators have advised a fluoride level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water since 2015. Before that, the recommended top range was 1.2 milligrams per liter of water for more than fifty years.
Approximately 1.9 million individuals, or 0.6% of the US population, live in water systems with naturally occurring fluoride levels of 1.5 mg or more. In 2015, authorities reduced the recommended fluoride content of drinking water to address a tooth ailment known as fluorosis, which was growing increasingly common in children in the US and might result in splotches on teeth.
According to Ashley Malin, a researcher at the University of Florida who has examined the impact of high fluoride levels on pregnant women and their children, told the Post, “I think this report is crucial in our understanding” of this risk, and “the findings from this report raise questions about how these people can be protected and what makes the most sense.”
Other notable issues researchers have connected to high fluoride exposure include increased risks of arthritis, osteoporosis, and bone damage, with some experts from the National Toxicology Program noting in the 1990s that evidence that osteosarcoma (bone cancer) risks linked to fluoride were “equivocal,” while the Carcinogen Identification Committee (CIC), based in California, also found mixed results but stated, “Fluoride and its salts have not been clearly shown to cause cancer.”
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