By Staff Writer - April, 28th 2014

Fluoride toxicity is characterized by a variety of signs and symptoms. In the United States, poisoning most commonly follows ingestion (accidental or intentional) of fluoride-containing products. However, in many parts of the world (eg, regions of India and China), elevated levels of fluoride in groundwater result in chronic fluoride toxicity (fluorosis). Potentially toxic levels of fluoride have also been found in well water in the US.

By Dr. Mercola

The absolute best way to help fluoride toxicity is to prevent it in the first place, which is why we are so passionate about removing it from the water supply because it is so hard to remove once it is there.

One of the risks of adding fluoride, a known poison that bio-accumulates in your body, to public drinking water supplies is what may happen if the dosing is off.

This is just what happened earlier this month in one Australian town, where a suspected electrical fault may have allowed fluoride levels to reach nearly double the guideline amount in local drinking water.

High Levels of Fluoride Mistakenly Added to Australian Drinking Water

Routine daily monitoring revealed the elevated fluoride levels, which reached 2.8 milligrams per liter (the Australian Drinking Water Guideline is 1.5 mg/L). The levels may have remained elevated for several days.

The fact is that there is a very real possibility of other equipment faults mistakenly dosing populations with dangerous levels of fluoride, and fluoride exposure can easily reach toxic levels.

For example, poison control should be called if you swallow a quarter-milligram of fluoride from toothpaste. Meanwhile, just ONE glass of legally fluoridated water can contain this amount of fluoride.

What is also interesting to note is the Australian drinking water guideline for fluoride. It’s set at 1.5 mg/L, whereas in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a non-enforceable recommended guidelines of 2 mg/L, which is intended to protect against “cosmetic” issues like dental fluorosis.

The enforceable regulation for fluoride – the maximum contaminant level — is set at 4 mg/L. Only if fluoride levels exceed this amount can the EPA take action to reduce levels. Perhaps this explains why, even at allowable levels, 41% of adolescents in the US currently have dental fluorosis from overexposure to fluoride.

Dental Fluorosis Is Not Just a Cosmetic Issue

Dental fluorosis — a condition in which your tooth enamel becomes progressively discolored and mottled — is one of the first signs of over-exposure to fluoride. Eventually, it can result in badly damaged teeth and worse… It's important to realize that dental fluorosis is not “just cosmetic” as the EPA and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest.

Dental fluorosis can also be an indication that the rest of your body, such as your bones and internal organs, including your brain, has been overexposed to fluoride as well.

In other words, if fluoride is having a visually detrimental effect on the surface of your teeth, you can be virtually guaranteed that it's also damaging other parts of your body, such as your bones.

Millions of People Routinely Ingest Fluoride at Levels That May Cause Harm

It’s important to understand that even at levels deemed “safe” by health officials, fluoride may still pose a significant risk to your health. The fluoride added to municipal water supplies is a toxic byproduct from the fertilizer industry—a rarely discussed fact that effectively nullifies most if not all studies pertaining to fluoride; they simply have not studied the exact same type of fluoride being added to our water.
That said, there are 25 studies showing that fluoride reduces IQ in children, including a recent study out of Harvard, in which the authors noted:

“The results support the possibility of an adverse effect of high fluoride exposure on children's neurodevelopment.“

A separate, particularly striking, animal study showed that fluoride ingestion had a profound influence on the animals' brains and altered behavior.¹ Pregnant rats given fluoride produced hyperactive offspring. And animals given fluoride after birth became apathetic, lethargic “couch potatoes.” Other research has linked fluoride toxicity with the wide-ranging problems listed below.

Increases lead absorption	Disrupts collagen synthesis	Increases manganese absorption, which is also linked to lower IQ in children	Crippling skeletal fluorosis and bone fractures
Genetic damage and cell death	Increased tumor and cancer growth	Disrupts immune system	Inhibits antibody production
Brain damage and lowered IQ	Dementia	Arthritis	Severe eye problems, including blindness
Impaired thyroid function	Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)	Inactivates 62 enzymes	Muscle disorders

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