Pervasive, Unsafe Exposures to Mercury and Fluoride, Developmental Toxicants that Are Biologically Plausible Causal Agents in the Jaw Epidemic

Kahn and colleagues (2020) highlight the underrecognized, modern epidemic of jaw shrinkage, including crowded teeth and constricted airways, but overlook a powerful explanatory variable: our pervasive exposures to developmental toxicants. In a landmark 2014 review on environmental causes for the epidemics of neurodevelopmental disorders, which affect 10%–15% of all US births, 11 common chemicals were recognized as neurodevelopmental toxicants (Grandjean and Landrigan 2014). Of these, we address mercury and fluoride. Both are systemic toxicants; they target certain molecular components having key roles in fundamental cellular processes—­including mineral assimilation, enzyme function, energy production, and gene expression. Both are particularly harmful during fetal and childhood development. Both have been used...