Reader letter: Prenatal fluoride exposure is not safe

On April 11th, the article “Fluoride to return to Windsor-area tap water after Tecumseh Vote” included bold claims regarding the safety of community water fluoridation, from Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara and Dr. Wajid Ahmed of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

Mayor McNamara:  “… I’m proud how council did their homework on this and based their decision on good science…. The reality is the science is solid and peer-reviewed.”

Dr. Ahmed: “… we stay up to date on all research and areas we work with…One research paper does not negate longstanding research that dates back 73 years that shows fluoride is safe.”

Science strongly indicates that fluoride can cause harm to babies in the womb at exposures experienced by mothers-to-be in fluoridated cities.

Recent high quality, U.S. government-funded studies found that fluoride exposure during pregnancy is associated with lower IQs and increased ADHD symptoms. The maternal fluoride exposures in these studies were very similar to those recently reported for Canadian fluoridated cities.

These studies were conducted by an international team of researchers from Dalla Lana School of Public Health at University of Toronto (where I earned my Master’s degree in Biostatistics), Harvard School of Public Health, National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, etc. They add to a body of over 50 published studies finding a relationship between fluoride exposure and reduced IQ in humans.

I therefore sought, via Freedom of Information requests to their institutions, the primary, peer-reviewed studies relied upon by these two gentlemen in making such confidently dismissive claims.

The response?  “No responsive studies“.

Fluoride is recognized as a developmental neurotoxin and there are no studies indicating that prenatal fluoride exposure is safe with respect to childhood IQ or ADHD symptoms

Christine Massey, Brampton