To the Editors:

For decades, Americans have been told a lie — one which has decreased the IQ scores of children and increased reproductive infertility of parents. This lie is called fluoridation. The public was led to believe that adding fluoride to water was a secure and successful method of protecting teeth from decay. This is not true. It has been shown that water fluoridation is neither crucial for good health nor protective to teeth. What fluoride does is poison the body. We should be asking how and why the government, corporations and advertisers continue to live with and perpetuate this scientific sham.

The American Dental Association states, “Fluoride in water is safe and it works.” The ADA also states that “more than 70 years of scientific research has consistently shown that an optimal level of fluoride in community water is safe and effective in preventing tooth decay,” but even though this method is known to treat tooth decay, fluoridation has never been approved by the FDA (“Fluoride in Water is Safe and It Works”). A scientist from Fluoride Action Network testifies that the effectivity of fluoridation to reduce tooth decay has never been verified by a randomized control trial. A systematic review and meta-analysis by researchers at Harvard University describes how there is a connection between fluoride exposure and a decline in neurological and cognitive functioning among children. Other scientific data also suggest that the damaging effects of fluoride extend to reproductive health as well.

Adding more information to the fluoride debate is a current investigative report by Natural News exposing how our fluoridated water systems today are commonly purchased from Chinese chemical plants. This fluoridate can be used as a toxic insecticide as well as a flux for soldering and welding. Shanghai Polymet Commodities Ltd, which produces fluoride destined for public water reserves in the U.S., notes on their official website that their fluoride is highly corrosive to human skin and harmful to people’s respiratory organs.

In fact, according to World Health Organization data, the U.S., which fluoridates about two-thirds of public water supplies, actually has higher rates of tooth decay than many countries in Europe that do not fluoridate their water. Japan stopped fluoridation in the 1970s, yet rates of tooth decay have declined since that time.

Water fluoridation, which is the most utilized method to treat tooth decay, generates a side effect called fluorosis enamel. Fluorosis enamel is a condition resulting from ingestion of excessive amounts of fluoride, which can cause a change in tooth structure and strength of the enamel, which becomes detached and more brittle. This is one of the reasons why most dental authorities now agree that the predominant benefits from fluoride are from topical application, not through systemic fluoridation as is implemented in the U.S. currently.

Moreover, according to the EPA, fluoride concentration based on the maximum and secondary contaminant level is either 2.0 or 4.0 parts per million in drinking water. Previous studies also discovered that volcanoes are the main source of fluoride. The United States has a varied topography with 169 active volcanoes. In fact, according to U.S. Geologic Survey data, two-thirds of American communities live in areas ranging between 448 and 6120 meters above sea level and up to hundreds of kilometers from volcanic area. Ash emitted during volcanic activity increases the presence of fluor (a chemical element and primary source of fluoride) in the vicinity of the volcano up to a distance of several hundred kilometers. In the event of water flow in the volcanic soils that contain fluor, the result is dissolution of fluor that can be found as fluoride in ground water.

Soil water absorption by plants will cause some types of food to contain high fluoride levels. Water that passes through a variety of fluor-rich minerals will dissolve the fluor so that fluor can be found in water, soil and almost all plants. Thus, it can be said that without water fluoridation, fluoride is the element that is naturally present in the food and drinking water of American communities.

These are some of the reasons why the government should stop placing this poison into the U.S. water supply.

– Abdillah Imron Nasution

Faculty of Dentistry, Syiah Kuala University

Oberlin Shansi Visiting Research Scholar