Fluoride, helpful or harmful?  Much like dozens of other debates that rage on regarding out health, most people simply don’t know who to believe. Fluoride has been added to our drinking water for decades, under the guise that it helps fight tooth decay.

Could it be that all those dentists much like the general population have been tricked and lied to. Why now are so many dentists on the other side of the debate.  Why do you think in 2007,  the ADA warned parents not to mix baby formula with tap water in the first 12 months of development so as to avoid fluoride intake.

I believe it’s time we find the truth and realize that the addition of fluoride to our drinking water,  needs to be recognized for it’s dangers.  To help make an informed decision, you simply need to understand the difference between the two types of fluoride. 

 Calcium fluoride which appears naturally in our underground water supply is relatively benign.  On the other hand, the type of fluorides added to water supplies and other beverages and foods are waste products of the nuclear, aluminum, and now mostly the phosphate (fertilizer) industries. The EPA has classified these as toxins: fluorosilicate acid, sodium silicofluoride, and sodium fluoride.

For this article, the term Sodium Fluoride will include all three types. Sodium fluoride is used for rat poison and as a pesticide.  According to a scientific study industrial waste sodium fluorides are 85 times more toxic than naturally occurring calcium fluoride.

Health Hazards of Sodium Fluoride

The addition of sodium fluoride in water and food also creates other more serious health problems that are not widely publicized, even suppressed. Many independent labs and reputable researchers have linked the following health issues with daily long term intake of sodium fluoride:

*Cancer
*Genetic DNA Damage
*Thyroid Disruption
*Neurological - diminished IQ and inability to focus, lethargy and weariness.
*Alzheimer’s Disease
*Melatonin Disruption, lowers immunity to cancer, accelerates aging, sleep disorders.

Perhaps you’re saying to yourself right now,  I’ve been drinking it for the last 40 years and there is nothing wrong with me.”   That is the same thing I used to say about using aspartame in my coffee and tea. I used it for 20 years before I developed neuropathy, which I believe was the direct result of aspartame. But that’s a whole different story and debate.

Back to flouride,  Sodium Flouride the kind that is added to our water supply is a cumulative poison which gradually affects the body over time, potential toxicity depends on how much water is consumed on a daily basis, the individual’s body weight, and the body’s ability to filter and eliminate the chemical.

The real problem that I see is we are overwhelmed with toxins from our environment everyday which we hope our liver is able to detox.  Why do we continue to push the envelope and make it harder on our body by consuming more poisons, especially when this is one that can be easily removed.

 How Fluoride Got Into Our Water.

Back in 1945, fluoride was properly regarded as an environmental pollutant. It was responsible for many lawsuits against industries, such as the aluminum industry and the phosphate fertilizer industry, whose waste products contain large quantities of fluoride. This fluoride destroyed crops and animals, leading to the lawsuits. The limited public view at that time, was that fluoride was an environmental pollutant that needed to be reduced or eliminated from the environment.

As a result of clever public relations campaigns, fluoride was transformed from an environmental pollutant to an essential nutrient necessary for producing healthy teeth. The science was lacking, but the P.R. campaign was great.

Industries not only made millions from selling this environmental pollutant to water companies and toothpaste companies, but more importantly, it saved billions of dollars that would be required to clean up this environmental pollutant.

It revealed a multi-tiered effort, which could be considered an abuse of power by both military and industry scientists and public health officials to shamelessly promote fluoride to the dentistry field and the American public with little regard to the implications it would have on human health. The fluoride currently being dumped in 90 percent of drinking water in the U.S. is added in the form of hydrofluoric acid, a chemical byproduct of aluminum, steel, cement, phosphate, and nuclear weapons manufacturing.  It is one of the most caustic of industrial chemicals. Hydrofluoric acid is used to refine high octane gasoline, to make fluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons for freezers and air conditioners, and to manufacture computer screens, fluorescent light bulbs, semiconductors, plastics, herbicides and toothpaste.

In the 1950’s the  campaign for adding fluorides to water lived on. Then the AMA picked up on the dental issue and endorsed sodium fluoride’s addition to water supplies. The few dissenting health studies and reports were usually squashed. Those dissenting voices were dismissed as quacks regardless of their credentials.

Approximately 2/3 of the USA water supply is laced with sodium fluoride. Sodium fluoride is a common pesticide. So that residue is in some foods. Some sodas, packaged orange juices, and even bottled drinking water for babies contain fluoride additives. Buyer beware. Read your labels carefully.

And if that wasn’t bad enough,  many water companies now will be adding fluoride to their bottled water.

What We Can Do To Remove Fluoride

Keep in mind that boiling only increases the concentration of fluoride to water more. But removing fluoride from tap water is possible. There are many filters along with reverse osmosis that can remove fluoride. While both of these methods are effective for removing fluoride from tap water, I don’t believe reverse osmosis is the best answer for the following reasons.

The reverse osmosis process contains several downsides which makes it an inefficient means of purifying drinking water. The small pores in the membrane block particles of large molecular structure like salt, but more dangerous chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and chlorine are molecularly smaller than water. These chemicals can freely pass through the porous membrane. For this reason, a carbon filter must be used as a complimentary measure to provide safe drinking water from the reverse osmosis process. Such chemicals are the major contaminants of drinking water after municipal treatment.

Another downside to reverse osmosis as a method of purifying drinking water is the removal of healthy, naturally occurring minerals in water. The membrane of a reverse osmosis system is impermeable to natural trace minerals. These minerals not only provide a good taste to water, but they also serve a vital function in the body’s system.  Water, when stripped of these trace minerals, can actually be unhealthy for the body. If you’re drinking reverse osmosis water every day, you must make sure you are supplementing your diet with the minerals that are removed by this water treatment.

That’s leaves us with water filters. While there are many on the market make sure the one you get removes flouride and chlorine. Don’t waste your money on small ones that work with a pitcher (ie Brita and Pur.)

Brita’s  website specifically says there filter does not remove only reduce levels of floride and chlorine, sodium and copper and mercury. While Pur’s website says nothing about flouride at all. And with both of these products the filters need to  be replaced every 40 gallons of water, which adds up to one every  1 to 2 months.  At $30 a piece this filter will cost you around $300 a year while a very good under the counter filters which removes flouride and chlorine and costs less than $200.  And their filters will last you a year.

To find out what you can do to stop water fluorination drop by this website.