By Frank Tabino | Category: Health and Chemicals
If you live in the United States, there is a very high probability that the water coming from your tap is treated with fluoride. Fluoride is added to the water supply of many municipalities as a way to prevent tooth decay. The federal government supports adding fluoride to drinking water supplies. When people know that this process is approved by the FDA, they take it for granted that it does what it is supposed to do, and most of all, that it is safe. In the case of drinking water fluoridation, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Before you say “hey what the heck is wrong with a little fluoride in my water and my toothpaste,” I would like to share some information about fluoride that might surprise you. First of all, many communities in the United States have passed laws prohibiting the use of fluoride in the drinking water supply.
In Canada, the number of people drinking fluoridated water has dropped by 25% in the last five years; in fact, most developed countries in the world do not add fluoride to their drinking water. However, what is surprising to me is that some U.S. health officials consider the fluoridation of water as one of the top ten health achievements of the 20th century. The United States has the dubious honor of having more people drinking fluoridated water that all of the rest of the world combined. In Western Europe, 97% of the people are drinking un-fluoridated water.
Now you might say that fluoride in our drinking water has improved the oral health of Americans, and if you did, you would be wrong. The United States has seen a major decline in the amount of tooth decay over the past half-century. Health officials credit this decline in tooth decay to the addition of fluoride to our water supply. However, the data that U.S. health officials used has been questioned many times. The same dramatic drop in tooth decay was observed in developed countries all around the world, even in countries that prohibit the addition of fluoride. Today, health statistics show no difference in the amount of tooth decay in the minority of countries using fluoridation and the majority of countries that prohibit fluoridation.
Some people think since fluoride is a compound found in nature that it is safe. Arsenic is also found in nature and it is quite well known what would happen if you ingested too much arsenic. However, the fluoride found in municipal water supplies is not a natural compound; the fluoride used to fluoridate water is a corrosive acid that is captured in the air pollution control devices of the phosphate fertilizer industry. Trapping the fluoride gases is mandated by the federal government because fluoride gas is a primary air pollutant. Think about this fact the next time you see someone brushing their teeth with fluoridated toothpaste.
According to a recent national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, 40% of American teenagers show visible sign of fluoride toxicity. Overexposure to fluoride causes a condition known as dental fluorosis, a defect in tooth enamel caused by fluoride’s interference with teeth-forming cells. The condition shows as white spots, or streaks on teeth. In more severe cases, brown stains and tooth erosion.
Probably one of the scariest facts about fluoride is that it does not affect only teeth. Fluoride has an effect on the endocrine system; the system that includes the pineal gland, pituitary gland, pancreas, ovaries, testes, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, hypothalamus, gastrointestinal tract and adrenal glands. Because it has an impact on the endocrine system, fluoride can affect your brain, your bones, your thyroid gland and even your blood sugar levels. There have been scores of human studies and hundreds of animal studies linking fluoride to brain damage, including lower IQ in children. Studies have shown that fluoride toxicity can lead to a wide variety of health problems, including hyperactivity, thyroid disease, bone cancer, and disrupted immune system.
I have been campaigning against fluoride for the past twenty years. I have never had the luxury of living in a city that did not add fluoride to the drinking water, so I have to filter my drinking and cooking water to get rid of the fluoride. You will have to have a reverse osmosis filter to remove fluoride, carbon filters, like the Brita, cannot remove fluoride. A reverse osmosis filter will remove 95-98% of contaminants, and in my opinion is the best water to filter drinking water.
If you are using toothpaste that contains fluoride, read the labels for the warning about swallowing the product. It is not unusual to see a warning “if swallowed, call poison control” on a tube of toothpaste. Toothpaste is a primary source of fluoride, but you can remove it from your body by using an all-natural, fluoride-free toothpaste like PerioiPaste. PerioPaste was developed by Dr. James Harrison, “The Integrative Dentist”, and it does not contain fluoride. What it does contain are organic herbs and essential oils. PerioPaste is fortified with CoEnzyme Q10 and folic acid for improved gum health.
