In Our Age of Information, Information About Fluoride and IQ in Children Is Hard to Find
by Hardly Waite, Senior Editor
An October 2012 publication of research done at the Harvard University Department of Environmental Health surveyed numerous previous studies and reached the conclusion that ingesting fluoride has an effect on children’s neurodevelopment and that, in fact, “. . .children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low fluoride areas.”
The sad thing about the finding is that you probably aren’t going to read about it in your local paper or hear about it
There have now been 36 major studies that link fluoride with lower IQ in children.
on the evening news. And what’s doubly sad is that it isn’t news at all. The Harvard researchers (Anna L. Choi, Gufian Sun, Ying Zhang, and Phillippe Grandjean) made no startling discovery on their own. They simply reviewed the findings of many, many previous studies that have shown similar results but have also failed to be reported on the evening news.
Fluoride Action Network had identified at least 36 previous studies that came to the same conclusion. Michael Connett and Tara Blank write:
As of September 2012, a total of 42 studies have investigated the relationship between fluoride and human intelligence, and a total of 17 studies have investigated the relationship fluoride and learning/memory in animals. Of these investigations, 36 of the 42 human studies have found that elevated fluoride exposure is associated with reduced IQ, while 16 of the 17 animal studies have found that fluoride exposure impairs the learning and memory capacity of animals. The human studies, which are based on IQ examinations of over 11,000 children, provide compelling evidence that fluoride exposure during the early years of life can damage a child’s developing brain.
The relationship between fluoride and the dumbing down of children isn’t new and it isn’t secret. It is surprising, though, how few people are aware of it. The next time your dentist speaks out for fluoride, ask him if he’s aware of the Harvard research showing that fluoride has a demonstrable bad effect on the neurodevelopment of children. If he says that the Harvard research is part of a commie plot to ruin America’s teeth, look for another dentist.
