(Natural News) There are many reasons to oppose fluoridated water. Not only is it a form of government-dictated mass medication, research has consistently shown that fluoride consumption has a host of ill effects on human health. Recent research has once again confirmed that fluoride is a neurotoxin — with developing fetuses and young children being the most susceptible to its deleterious effects.

Scientists from the University of Toronto recently confirmed that exposure to high levels of fluoride in the womb increases ADHD-like symptoms in school-aged children. Dr. Morteza Bashash, the study’s lead author and researcher at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, commented on the findings and stated, “Our findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence suggesting that the growing fetal nervous system may be negatively affected by higher levels of fluoride exposure.”

Fluoride and ADHD

Dr. Bahash and his team studied 213 pregnant women and their children to see how fluoride affected the children as they reached school-age. All were part of the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) project, which saw recruitment between the years of 1994 and 2005 and featured continued follow-up.

The team of experts analyzed urine samples that were taken from the mothers during pregnancy, as well as samples taken from the children while they were between six and 12 years old. The goal was to “reconstruct personal measures of fluoride exposure for both mother and child.”

Then, the scientists looked at how fluoride levels related to the children’s performance on a battery of tests and surveys which measured inattention, hyperactivity and conducted overall ADHD scoring.

“Our findings show that children with elevated prenatal exposure to fluoride were more likely to show symptoms of ADHD as reported by parents. Prenatal fluoride exposure was more strongly associated with inattentive behaviours and cognitive problems, but not with hyperactivity,” Dr. Bahash stated.

The team was sure to adjust for other confounding factors, like lead exposure and smoking history. Previous research by Dr. Bahash’s team came to a similar conclusion, with the team finding that high levels of fluoride in the urine during pregnancy was associated with lower IQ and cognition test scores in children. Several other recent studies have also made a connection between fluoride and ADHD.

Water fluoridation may be commonplace, but that doesn’t mean it is actually safe.

The toxicity of fluoride

The truth about fluoride has long been covered up; a former EPA scientist, Dr. William Hirzy, has worked extensively to study (and expose) the real danger of fluoride. Research by Dr. Hirzy has also indicated that fluoride consumption is linked to a reduction in IQ.

Dr. Hirzy reportedly stated of his research,”The significance of this peer reviewed risk analysis is that it indicates there may be no actual safe level of exposure to fluoride.” [Emphasis added]

“Fluoride may be similar to lead and mercury in having no threshold below which exposures may be considered safe,” he added.

And as Natural News writer Tracey Watson reports further, even health experts at Harvard have been forced to admit that fluoride is indeed toxic to the brain. In 2012, researchers from the Ivy League school analyzed IQ scored from 8,000 Chinese school children who’d been exposed to fluoride in the water supply. And what they found was that fluoride, once again, was harming kids.

“High fluoride content in water may negatively affect cognitive development. The average loss in IQ was reported as a standardized weighted mean difference of 0.45, which would be approximately equivalent to seven IQ points for commonly used IQ scores with a standard deviation of 15,” reads the study’s conclusion.

Fluoride’s effect on the brain is only the tip of the iceberg. You can learn more about the dangers of this neurotoxic chemical that’s routinely added to tap water at Fluoride.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealth365.com

ScienceDaily.com