A new study adds to the recent deluge of bad news for water fluoridation. Researchers David Geier and Mark Geier, a father-son duo, published on April 2 a study that concludes that water fluoridation increases the risk of autism, ADHD, intellectual disability, and neurodevelopmental delays in children. The authors used data from the Independent Healthcare Research Database made up of healthcare records from the Florida Medicaid System from 1990-2012.
The Study
Florida includes counties that fluoridate their water systems and those that don’t. The researchers compared the results of 25,662 children exposed to fluoride and 2,509 who weren’t. They looked at fluoride exposure and results during the first 10 years of their lives. And while they concluded that fluoride warded off tooth decay, it came at a high cost. As Brenda Baletti, Ph.D., reported for Children’s Health Defense:
After 10 years of fluoride exposure, the risk of tooth decay was significantly lower — 3.6-fold — in exposed children, but the children had a significantly higher risk of developmental disorders — 6.26-fold greater for autism, 2.02-fold greater for intellectual disability and 1.24 greater for specific delays in development.
The media have attacked the study’s authors for holding unapproved views in efforts to discredit their work. But this isn’t the first study to link water fluoridation to neurological problems in children. As The New American reported back in March 18, 2015, a team of psychologists from York University in Toronto, Canada, found that states with a higher portion of fluoridation saw higher incidences of ADHD diagnoses. Their study was published in the journal Environmental Health.
Other Research
More recently, a comprehensive report conducted by the National Toxicology Program and published January 6 concluded that exposure to fluoride is linked to reduced IQ in children. There were multiple efforts, including by the CDC, to delay and influence the findings of the report. Nevertheless, it has proved pivotal. Although officially published this year, a draft was made available many months earlier and was cited in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Fluoride Action Network (FAN), Mothers Against Fluoridation, and other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit, and in September, California federal Judge Edward Chen sided with them over the EPA. He ordered the EPA to take action without specifying what those actions should be.
Taking Action
Since the ruling, several communities and one state have stopped fluoridating their water systems. On March 27, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation that makes the Beehive State the first state to completely ban water fluoridation. The law goes into effect May 7. Representative Stephanie Gricius, who sponsored the bill, told The Defender a major reason she brought the bill forward was to put an end to mass medication.
Mass Medication
TNA’s predecessor American Opinion was among the few to publish sound reporting and constitutional views regarding mass water fluoridation as the practice was gaining momentum across the country during mid-20th century. The main argument of TNA and the magazine’s parent company, The John Birch Society, was that mass medication was unconstitutional. Even if the practice was all benefits and no drawbacks, no American government has any business deploying mass medicine. Unfortunately, the practice is not only unconstitutional, but as we continue learning, harmful in one of the worst ways. Reports continue to show that fluoridation affects the human brain.
Autism Link
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been raising the alarm about rising rates of autism for a very long time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) estimates that one in 36 children have autism. A recent JAMA Open Network study suggests that number may be even worse — one in 33 children. Historically, as recently as in the 1980s, that figure was one in 10,000. The primary suspects are an increase in the childhood vaccine schedule and pesticides sprayed on the majority of food grown in the United States. It turns out fluoride is also a suspect.
Real Science
Before his confirmation as HHS secretary, Kennedy vowed he would steer the massive federal health agency to conduct unbiased science and get to the bottom of America’s chronic illness issue as well as the reason for the rise in autism and other neurodevelopmental issues. The United States is among the sickest first-world nations and has been for a long time. As far back as 2013, NPR reported that the United States ranked below 16 other rich countries in health. Yet no one spends more on healthcare than the United States.
Many blame America’s collective sickness to an unholy alliance between Big Food and Big Pharma, alleging that the two work together. One creates the problem (Big Food), the other a partial solution (Big Pharma) — all at the cost of Americans’ health.
The silver lining is that what was considered a fringe and conspiratorial pseudo health movement is gaining momentum across the country. Americans from sea to shining sea are waking up to the risks posed by unnatural food and dependence on synthetic medications. Just as fluoridation is being phased out, organic food consumption has been gaining popularity for many years. The Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) movement embodies this awakening.
