Fluoride is Toxic and Can Cause a Wide Range of Health Problems

Fluoride or Arsenic?

Choose your poison.

Given the choice between water laced with arsenic, versus water "treated" with fluoride, it's almost a toss up. That's because both are highly toxic and, if ingested in large enough quantities, either one can kill you.

Amazingly, more fluoridated water is consumed in the United States, where 70 percent of municipal water supplies contain this dangerous chemical, than in rest of the world combined, according to the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). By contrast, you won't find fluoride in 97 percent of the public drinking water in Western Europe.

The good news is a growing number of communities are removing fluoride from their water, including the City of Calgary, Alberta in Canada and Pinellas County in Florida.

There's increased awareness that sodium fluoride is something to avoid. If you type the words "fluoride toxicity" into a Google search, you'll get more than two million hits.

It's not just "conspiracy theorists" sounding the alarm that most public drinking water contains a substance that can weaken the body and cause serious illness, as many scientists would now like to see this questionable practice stopped. The American Dental Association, for one, now advises against fluoride supplements for "most" children. And the FDA requires warning labels on toothpaste.

FAN notes that this awareness "is a shift away from conspiracy and toward the mainstream."

The short answer is that it wreaks havoc, and it can cause a range of conditions including arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, kidney damage and cancer.

I realized this very early on when my children were small and suffered from an assortment of health problems. My five-year-old daughter was diagnosed with thyroid disease. Fluoride certainly wasn't helping. Putting her on a strict no-fluoride regimen, as well as homeopathy, solved the problem and she no longer needs thyroid medication.

The Fluoride Action Network has this to say about the additive it would like to see banned.

"Less well known is that fluoride is a highly toxic compound, a major industrial pollutant, a key ingredient in some pesticides and fumigants, the cause of a tooth defect that currently impacts over 40 percent of American teenagers and the cause of a devastating bone disease that impacts millions of people throughout the world. For too long, the toxicity of fluoride compounds has been overlooked by the public health and environmental communities."

The Fluoride Action Network has a large advisory board comprised of members with a virtual alphabet soup of letters after their names, such as MD, PhD and DC.

The reason why fluoride was added to municipal water supplies was supposedly to prevent tooth decay. However, this is not the case, and, as it's now coming to light, the reverse may be true.

"In fact, tooth decay rates in many non-fluoridated countries are now lower than the tooth decay rates in fluoridated ones," reads the FAN website.

FAN recommends various ways to reduce fluoride exposure. Number one is not drinking fluoridated tap water. Spring water or bottled water is one option. Another is to install a high-quality water filter.

Our family, after spending years lugging home plastic bottles of spring water, finally invested in a counter-top water filter that we purchased on Amazon.com. This has been wonderful. (Make sure to change the filters regularly or you'll end up with dirtier water than what you started with.)

Also, $19.99 pitcher style filters do not remove fluoride. If a filter doesn't claim to remove fluoride, it's probably safe to assume it doesn't.

Not using fluoridated toothpaste is a no brainer. Although non-fluoridated toothpaste is more expensive than regular toothpaste, why pay anything for poison? But be very careful when choosing a brand of "natural" toothpaste. Many nationally known brands billing themselves as "natural" contain added fluoride, as well as sodium lauryl sulfate, something else to avoid. We order our natural toothpaste in bulk, online, and it's quite reasonable.

Also, FAN recommends against fluoridated gel at the dentist. Just say "no thank you" at your next dental visit. Our own dentist understands who we'd never let him apply this to our teeth, as it releases a massive amount of fluoride into the body.

If you drink juice, make sure it's organic. My husband loves grape juice, so I always buy organic. However, I'm well aware that its made from concentrate and water, and that water probably is fluoridated, as it most likely comes from a municipal tap. Although I wish he didn't like fruit juice so much, as its also high in sugar, at least its not made from fruit sprayed with fluoride-containing pesticides.

I was surprised to learn how much fluoride is naturally found in black tea. FAN recommends reducing black tea consumption if you wish to reduce fluoride consumption.

Many drugs, such as the antibiotic Cipro, contain fluoride. Fortunately, in my family, we are trying very hard to avoid all prescription drugs unless absolutely necessary.

FAN warns against cooking with teflon pans, which, when heated, may release chemicals containing fluoride. In addition to that, I've invested in marble-coated cookware and cast-iron pots, in order to avoid aluminum pans as well.

There is one alarming fact I was only vaguely aware of when I started writing this article. The fluoride found in our public water supplies comes from "unprocessed industrial by-products of the phosphate fertilizer industry." And 70 percent of Americans consume mass quantities of these industrial byproducts, on a daily basis.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are not meant to diagnose‚ treat or cure any disease or medical condition.

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