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Fluoride Officially Classified as a Neurotoxin
The movement to remove added fluoride from the world's water supply has been growing in recent years.
Only about 5% of the world's drinking water is fluoridated. In Europe, only Ireland (73%), Poland (1%), Serbia (3%), Spain (11%) and the U.K. (11%) fluoridate their water supplies according to the Fluoride Action Network.
According to the most recent statistics from 2014, provided by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), out of all of the US population, about two thirds have fluoridated tap water. In New Jersey, we are very lucky, since we are 49th out of 50 states, with only 14.6% of our municipal water supplies being fluoridated. Kentucky is first, with 99.9% of their municipal water being fluoridated.
The world’s oldest and most prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, has officially classified fluoride as a neurotoxin, in the same category as arsenic, lead and mercury.
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As noted in the summary of their report, a systematic review identified five different similar industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxins: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), arsenic and toluene. The summary goes on to state that six additional developmental neurotoxis have also now been identified; manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
Also in the report, they note that neurodevelopmental disabilities, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and other cognitive impairments, are now affecting millions of children worldwide in what they call a “pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity.”
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The report coincides with 2013 findings by a Harvard University meta-analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health that concluded that children in areas with highly fluoridated water have “significantly lower” IQ scores that those who live in areas with low amounts of fluoride in their water supplies.
Sodium fluoride in drinking water has also been linked to various cancers. It is functionally different than the naturally-occurring calcium fluoride.