Fluoride Effects

The Harmful Effects of Fluoride on Human Health
Removing fluoride from consumer products benefits human health, prevent low IQ’s, and rids the notion that it helps cavities. Fluoride is a compound that brings together the element fluorine with another substance, generally a metal (“Water”1). Once in the body, fluoride is absorbed into the blood through the digestive tract. They collect in areas high in calcium, such as bones and teeth (“Water”1). Over the years, since inception, many people have questioned why fluoride is integrated into water and consumer products in general. The reason it is questioned is because there is no real reason, aside from it helping cavities, so they say, to why it must be added to consumer products. Toothpaste
Many decades after fluoride was first added to drinking water in some parts of the United States, there is still controversy about the possible health effects of drinking water fluoridation (“Water”1). Long-term exposure to high levels of fluoride that aren’t recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency has the potential to cause a condition called skeletal fluorosis. (“Water”2). This is a condition that causes pain and discomfort to the joins and bones due to excessive fluoride intake. The reason fluoridation in consumer products is questioned so much is because the effect it has on human health is so uncertain. In a study conducted using lab animals by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) in 1990, what was learned by all of the research is that there is no direct or credible evidence that fluoridation in high amounts in populated areas causes cancer risk (“Water”3). It is a tricky concept because on one hand, no one can fully comprehend why fluoride is in our water and other products, but at the same time studies show, it does not cause massive health risk. It may not cause cancer, but it can cause other health related issues, and one of the most important issues is
“Despite widespread public health adoption, water fluoridation has come under close scrutiny over the past quarter century as science overwhelmingly shows fluoridation has little to no benefit in preventing dental cavities” (Mercola1). What is interesting is that for all of the health complications that come along with consuming fluoride like lowered IQ’s, fluorosis, bone weakness and fractures, immune and endocrine dysfunction, the little dental benefit, that may not be true, cannot come close to the health related issues that come with it (Mercola1). The rates of dental caries are actually going downward, despite what the CDC and ADA says about fluoridation. The notion that fluoride has dental benefits may very well be false, considering scientific studies show the opposite to be true. What is interesting is in the 1990’s, the CDC claimed that dental caries declined precipitously , but failed to state that it declined in ALL western nations, regardless of whether or not fluoridation was used or not (Mercola3). “This makes it rather ridiculous to argue that water fluoridation is having any sort of health benefit”