Federal report finding fluoride lowers IQ of children reviewed by National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) just released an assessment of a draft report on fluoride neurotoxicity produced by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). The NAS suggested improvements to strengthen the report and heavily criticized NTP for ignoring evidence from animal studies and for inadequately addressing the human evidence at fluoride levels common in the USA, reports the Fluoride Action Network (FAN).

Paul Connett, PhD, Director of FAN, an environmental group, welcomed the NAS report and said, "If

the recommendations are adopted, they will make the final report 'iron-clad' against criticisms. The NAS suggestions should strengthen the draft report's conclusion that fluoride is a presumed neurotoxin in children, which is based on 149 human studies. This finding brings into question the long-standing assurances from public health officials that water fluoridation is safe."

Connett went on to say, "The NAS review has been misinterpreted by fluoridation defenders. The NAS did not independently review the scientific evidence but instead limited itself to comments on whether the NTP clearly and thoroughly explained their methods. The NAS emphasized its finding '… does not mean that the NTP's conclusion is incorrect.'"

"Many NAS suggestions are minor and should have little effect on the conclusion of 'presumed' neurotoxic in children. However, the inclusion of the hundreds of identified animal studies, as recommended by NAS, can only increase confidence in the conclusion."

"The other main NAS criticism was that NTP inadequately addressed the question most people are interested in: Does fluoridated water pose a neurotoxic risk? Criticizing NTP's vague discussions about uncertainty over this question, the NAS recommends NTP do a proper dose-response analysis to address this issue head-on. FAN believes such an analysis will confirm there is sufficient evidence linking water fluoridation to lowered IQ and other neurotoxic effects."

Connett further stated, "Multiple strong scientific studies, at exposures relevant to fluoridation, have been published after the NTP's review. They link fluoridation in Canada to greatly lowered IQ in formula-fed infants (Till 2020) and 300% higher rates of ADHD (Ridell 2019); fluoridation in USA with sleep disturbances in adolescents (Malin 2020); and fluoride with lower IQ by thyroid disruption (Wang 2020)."

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