Written by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Children’s exposure to high levels of fluoride ‘consistently associated’ with lower IQand possibly other neurodevelopmental problems, according to a report from the National Toxicology Program (NTP).

In 2016, NTP launched a systematic review of scientific literature to determine links between fluoride and cognition. On August 21, it published a report with detailed findings. In total, 72 studies were discussed in the report, which examined how fluoride exposure affected children’s IQ. Sixty-four of these studies found an “inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and childhood IQ,” meaning that higher exposure was associated with lower IQ and vice versa.

“This review concludes, with moderate certainty, that higher estimated fluoride exposures … are consistently associated with lower IQ in children,” the report said. NTP is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the NTP, high exposure results from drinking water with a fluoride concentration exceeding the limit of 1.5 mg/L set by the World Health Organization.

The permissible limits in the United States are different. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a threshold of 0.7 mg/L for the presence of fluoride in drinking water (including naturally occurring and added fluoride, or fluoridation), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a limit of 2 mg/L.

As of April 2020, community water systems in the United States provided water with 1.5 mg/L or more of naturally occurring fluoride to 0.59 percent of the country’s population, or about 1.9 million people, NTP said. About 1 million people received water with 2 mg/L or more of naturally occurring fluoride.

“There is also evidence that fluoride exposure is associated with other neurological and cognitive effects in children; “although, because of the heterogeneity of the results, there is little confidence in the literature for these other effects,” the report said.

The studies on children’s IQ discussed in the report were conducted in 10 countries, including Canada and Mexico. No studies from the United States were included in the review.

Fluoride is a mineral that prevents and repairs damage to teeth caused by bacteria. In 1945, the United States introduced a program of community water fluoridation, which is considered a successful public health measure.

However, There have been concerns that children and pregnant women may be ingesting excessive amounts of fluoride as a result of exposure to the mineral from various sources.including water, beverages, toothpaste and tea, the NTP said. This led the program to conduct the current study.

Fluoride Debate

The NTP report is a follow-up to a study of mother-child pairs from Los Angeles published in May that concluded that fluoride exposure during pregnancy is linked to “neurobehavioral problems” in children.

Study lead researcher Ashley Malin said the results suggest fluoride may negatively impact fetal brain development. She noted that there is “no known benefit” to fetuses from fluoride consumption.

“We found that every 0.68 milligram per liter increase in urine fluoride levels of pregnant women was associated with a nearly doubled odds of children scoring in the clinical or borderline clinical range for neurobehavioral problems at age 3 years, based on their mothers’ reports,” she said.

In a May 22 statement, the American Dental Association (ADA) said the survey was not “nationally representative” and did not measure “actual consumption of fluoridated water.”

“The JAMA study should be considered exploratory. To date, the ADA has not seen any peer-reviewed research that would change the long-standing recommendation to the public to brush twice daily with fluoride toothpaste and drink optimally fluoridated water,” the group said.

“Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic diseases in children. Decades of research and practical experience indicate that fluoridation of community water is safe and effective in reducing cavities by 25 percent in both children and adults.”

It endorsed fluoridation of drinking water as a “safe, useful and cost-effective” way to prevent cavities in teeth.

Another study from January found that many parents exposed their children to large amounts of fluoride. When parents used toothpaste for their children under 24 months, the fluoride dose was 5.9 to 7.2 times higher than recommended, the study found.