Is Fluoride In Water?

20th September 2016Waterbrain damage, fluoridated water, is fluoride in water, magnesium deficitChes Power

Is fluoride in water naturally? Well, actually there are some areas in the world where the natural water supply will have a certain amount of fluoride in it. Fluoride is often found naturally in soil and rock too. There is usually only a trace in natural water and a trace is all we need!

What is fluoride?

For those that are interested, fluorine is a really nasty element and fluoride is a derivative of it. Fluorine is the most reactive element in the periodic table. It is first in the halogen series at element number 9, with other halogens being chlorine (17), bromine (35), iodine (53) and astatine (85).

A dangerous element

My husband has worked with fluorine when making peptides and he hated handling it because of its dangers. He had to use a fume hood with special fume hood gauntlets. He calls it ‘evil’ stuff.

One time, there was an emergency in the lab when one of the polypropylene bottle traps collapsed with a loud bang sending the rest of the lab team running out of the room, whilst hubby had to deal with turning off the gas cylinder tap and make everything safe. This was fluorine gas he was dealing with and if it had escaped, it would have been catastrophic!

Which fluoride is used in drinking water?

According to wikipedia: “Fluoridation does not affect the appearance, taste, or smell of drinking water. It is normally accomplished by adding one of three compounds to the water: sodium fluoride, fluorosilicic acid, or sodium fluorosilicate. Sodium fluoride (NaF) was the first compound used and is the reference standard.”

There are many different fluoride salts

Why don’t they use other fluoride salts? The reason being is that sodium fluoride is very soluble whereas calcium fluoride for instance, is not soluble in water neither is magnesium fluoride. As for potassium fluoride, this is very soluble but is highly toxic and can even corrode glass and porcelain. So sodium fluoride is used because of its high solubility in water, ideal for adding to the water supply, but it is toxic in its own right with 5 grams being a lethal dose.

Brain damage from fluoride

Fluoride’s damage to the brain has been actively researched with over 300 animal studies finding fluoride to be a neurotoxin. Over 100 animal studies have come to the same conclusion that brain cognition is impaired after prolonged exposure from fluoride. Iodine deficiency or an excess of aluminium seems to exacerbate the problem. Another 45 studies using mice and rats as subjects, reported that the rodents started losing their capacity to learn and/or remember.

IQ being reduced

There have been 50 human studies which suggest that moderately high fluoride exposures cause reduced intelligence and IQ. 12 more studies, 7 human and 5 animal, suggest a strong link between fluoride causing neurobehavioral deficits such as impaired visual and spatial processing. 3 more human studies have linked fluoride exposure with impaired fetal brain development.

Have you given your permission to be medicated?

It is incredible that so many countries are fortifying their water supply with sodium fluoride when there is all this evidence revealing that there is something amiss with the use of this substance in the general water supplies. Despite this evidence, it is still being added to 70% of the United States public drinking water supplies. In other words the public is being medicated wholesale, without the permission of the people.

What about other conditions?

Also there is the further evidence by way of a remarkable increase in the incidence of depression in adults and children. ADD and ADHD and other behavioral issues in children with learning disabilities are rife. This accumulation of research into the neurological effects of fluoride must surely be taken more seriously.

Who is to blame?

It would appear that the politicians who are supposed to protect the population are quite happy to let this state of affairs linger on at the expense of the cognitive ability of our children being put at risk. Also there is no telling how this toxin will affect the population in the long term. Apart from the neurological problems it is producing, much concern and research is now being targeted at the possibility of this compound causing cancer and other conditions.

What the NRC says

In 2006 the NRC (National Research Council) stated “It is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain”. The NRC also expressed concern medicatedwatercartoon about fluoride’s possible involvement in dementia and said “Studies of populations exposed to different concentrations of fluoride should be undertaken to evaluate neurochemical changes that may be associated with dementia. Consideration should be given to assessing effects from chronic exposure, effects that might be delayed or occur late-in-life and individual susceptibility”.

Harvard’s research

In July 2012, a team of Harvard researchers published an analysis of 27 studies investigating any link there may be between fluoride and human intelligence. 26 out of the 27 studies reviewed that met with the Harvard team’s criteria, found a distinct relationship between elevated fluoride and reduced Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The Harvard research team concluded that it was of the utmost importance that fluoride’s effect on the developing brain of our children should be a ‘high research priority’. This, despite mass fluoridation programs, seems to have fallen on stony ground with little research being conducted to investigate this vital issue.

The Lancet on fluoride

In March 2014, the Lancet, which is a prestigious medical journal, published a review of “developmental neurotoxicity” concluding that fluoride is just one of only eleven chemicals known to damage the developing brain. These widespread brain disorders such as ADHD, autism, learning disabilities and cognitive impairments often develop with no treatment available, giving rise to a permanent disability.

The authors of The Lancet review, which included Harvard scientist Philippe Grandjea, wrote: “Our very great concern is that children worldwide are being exposed to unrecognized toxic chemicals that are silently eroding intelligence, disrupting behaviors, truncating future achievements, and damaging societies, perhaps most seriously in developing countries.”

he also wrote in a bulletin posted on the Harvard School of Public Health website:

“Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain. The effect of each toxicant may seem small, but the combined damage on a population scale can be serious, especially because the brain power of the next generation is crucial to all of us.”

How does fluoride affect magnesium?

I want to come back to what happens when fluoride enters the body. As I explained earlier, fluorine from which fluoride is derived, is a nasty element and very reactive, the most reactive of all the elements. Only the noble gases helium, neon and argon are unaffected by it.

This being the case, when fluoride is in the body, it seeks out minerals such as Mg and binds with it, thus making the Mg unavailable to the body and unable to do its vital tasks which are manifold. This now Mg fluoride (MgF₂) is insoluble and can end up in hard tissue such as bone and cartilage. It is brittle and makes bones susceptible to fracture. Apart from that, the reduction in available Mg compromises the enzymatic action in the body.¹ The image shows Mg chloride crystals.

We need fluoride in minuscule quantities

Experiments in laboratory animals have shown that a complete lack of fluoride will produce stunted growth and/or anaemia and infertility. Fluoride is today considered to be essential for humans but only in minuscule doses. Larger amounts are highly dangerous and just ¼ gram will induce a toxic response. 5 grams would be fatal.

This is why sodium fluoride has been used as an effective insecticide for cockroaches and ants.

An accident

In 1943 patients in a hospital in the US were served scrambled eggs salted with sodium fluoride instead of the usual salt (sodium chloride). 163 were taken ill of which 47 died!

According to the US Dept. of Health and Human Services:

“subsets of the population may be unusually susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride and its compounds. These populations include the elderly people with Mg deficiency and people with cardiovascular and kidney problems.”²

Reported effects of fluoride in the brain:

Damage to the hippocampus
Formation of beta-amyloid plaques (abnormality found in the Alzheimer’s brain)
pineal gland

Reduction in lipid content
Reduction in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
Accumulation of fluoride in pineal gland
Increased uptake of aluminium
Damage to purkinje cells (densely branching neuron in the cerebellar cortex of the brain.)
Impaired antioxidant defence systems
Exacerbation of lesions induced by iodine deficiency

And… fluoride rapidly depletes Mg

The above list is apart from the damage that fluoride can do by seriously depleting Mg exacerbating and inducing serious diseases. These include our biggest killer cardiovascular diseases. So if you are in an area that has fluoridated water, I would suggest you buy yourself a water filter and also make sure your Mg levels are repleted daily. Hopefully the powers that be will start taking notice of research, listen to the public and respect their wishes when they do not want their water supply fluoridated.

Machoy-Mokrzynska, A., “Fluoride_Magnesium Interaction”. Fluoride, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 175-177, 1995
“Fluorides, Hydrogen Fluoride and Fluorine: A Toxicological Profile,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) TP-91/17, page 112, sec. 2.7 (Health Impacts), April 1993