Exposure to fluoride is a contentious topic, mostly because exposure is everywhere. Not only is fluoride a common ingredient in toothpaste, many municipalities have a fluoridated water supply. Why? Well, the reason we’re given is that it encourages oral health… even though it’s not known to prevent harmful oral bacteria. [1] What is known is that fluoride is toxic. In fact, the number one reason for poison control calls concerning fluoride are for children who’ve eaten toothpaste. [2] [3] Long-term ingestion is harmful to the brain, digestive system, heart, bones… even the tooth enamel it’s supposed to help. [4] [5] [6] These next 9 shocking facts will make you take a second look at your exposure to fluoride.
Dangers of Fluoride Exposure
Weakens Skeletal Health
Skeletal fluorosis is a condition resulting from fluoride consumption. The liver is unable to process fluoride, thus it passes into the bloodstream where it combines with calcium that’s been leeched from the skeletal system. You’re left with weak bones, otherwise known as skeletal fluorosis. The risk has been known about for decades yet it’s not been established how much exposure will trigger skeletal fluorosis… and the impact it has on quality of life is horrendous. [7] [8] [9] The best way to protect yourself is to avoid fluoride. Recently, Chinese authorities established a link between reductions in fluoride exposure and the incidence of fluorosis. [10]Causes Arthritis
Fluoride has been shown to cause calcification of cartilage, the essential tissue for joint health. [11] Degenerative osteoarthritis has been linked to skeletal fluorosis. [12] And in a study of individuals suffering from fluorosis, osteoarthritis knee conditions occurred frequently. [13]Toxic to the Thyroid
Iodine and fluoride belong to a family of compounds known as halogens. Although iodine is beneficial to the thyroid, fluoride is not. However, because of the similarities, the thyroid can absorb fluoride instead of iodine. This is bad. Fluoride is toxic to thyroid cells; it inhibits function and causes cell death. [14] For decades, fluoride was used to reduce thyroid function in individuals suffering from an overactive thyroid. [15] Now — and pay attention to this — the range used in water fluoridation matches the levels typically used to reduce thyroid function. [16]Calcifies the Ultra-Important Pineal Gland
Although the full capabilities of the pineal gland have been the subject of debate for centuries, it’s known for certain that, at a minimum, the pineal gland regulates body rhythms and wake-sleep cycles; two extremely important functions. Fluoride is especially toxic to the pineal gland, where it accumulates and calcifies the gland. In fact, by the time the average person reaches old age, their pineal gland will have higher calcium density than their bones. [17]Accelerates Female Puberty
It also deserves mention that the pineal gland plays an integral role in the onset of puberty. Research has shown that girls living in areas prone to more fluoride exposure experience puberty earlier than girls exposed to less. [18] Fluoride’s damaging effect on sexual function only begins here…Harmful to Male and Female Fertility
A direct link exists between fertility rates and fluoridated drinking water. Higher levels of fluoride correspond to lower fertility rates, particularly with drinking water levels of 3 ppm. [19] Animal models show that fluoride reduces reproductive hormones in females. [20] Men have it just as bad; those suffering from fluorosis have lower testosterone and fertility than men with limited fluoride exposure. [21]Bad for Kidney Health
Fluoride is toxic to the kidneys and a higher rate of chronic kidney disease has been reported in areas where the water contains high levels of fluoride. [22] [23] According to Chinese researchers, a fluoride level of 2 mg/L is all it takes to cause renal damage in children. [24] While water fluoridation levels are often much lower than this, the fluoride bombardment continues with toothpaste and other sources.Harmful to the Cardiovascular System
Research suggests that exposure to fluoride causes cardiovascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. [25] [26] Other research has examined its effect on blood pressure but had mixed results. Regardless, despite that cardiovascular disease can have many causes, the evidence, and history show its incidence increases with exposure to fluoride.Negative Cognitive Effects
The Fluoride Action Network reports that, as of May 2013, 43 studies have examined the effect of fluoride on human intelligence. The results should motivate anyone to minimize their fluoride exposure. One observation is that fluoride negatively impacts children’s neural development. [27] Another is that children living in highly fluoridated areas have up to five times greater chance of developing a low IQ compared to those who do not. [28]
https://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/9-shocking-dangers-of-fluoride/
Fluoride has been added to our toothpastes and water supplies for years but now countries around the world like China, Europe, and Japan have begun banning fluoridated water due to it’s high toxicity levels.
The first time fluoride was added to water was during World War II when Hitler used to add it to the water supply in Nazi Concentration camps to keep the prisoners docile and easier to control.
Now, studies have shown that fluoride can interfere with the functions of the brain and can alter mental behaviour. Consumption has also been associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Fluoride can accumulate in the body through direct ingestion, showering and through the tissues in the mouth. While our kidneys can process out nearly 50 percent of ingested fluoride, the rest is stored in the bones and the pineal gland.
http://foreverconscious.com/fluoridated-water-a-toxic-scam-invented-by-the-nazis
Well reducing estrogen and reducing the feminizing effect of tap water are two different things.
The major types of estrogen found in our water supply include estrone, estradiol, estriol, and the synthetic ethinylestradiol from medications like the oral contraceptive pill. You could just focus on removing these estrogens from your water supply, and a number of studies have focused on exactly that.
The trouble however, is that many of the other more than 100,000 chemicals in wastewater effluent, also have an estrogenic effect on our bodies. These include dihydrofolliculin, octylphenol, nonylphenol, polyethoxylates, trihalomethanes and bisphenol A.
Scientists have also discovered a new class of chemicals that have anti-androgenic (i.e. anti-testosterone) properties. Anti-androgens can be just as feminizing as estrogens.
https://chestsculpting.com/how-to-remove-estrogen-from-your-drinking-water/
Some research cited in the report suggests that animal manure accounts for 90 percent of estrogens in the environment. Other research estimates that if just 1 percent of the estrogens in livestock waste reached waterways, it would comprise 15 percent of the estrogens in the world’s water supply.
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2011/acs-presspac-february-23-2011/new-report-dont-blame-the-pill-for-estrogen-in-drinking-water.html
"It wasn't until about the 1970s that we started to realize that chlorine had some unintended consequences," he says. "And one of the biggest unintended consequences of adding chlorine to water was that it reacts with some of the organic matter in the water to produce carcinogenic byproducts."
At first, scientists knew only that chloramine didn't produce the same byproducts chlorine did. But over time they learned that it could produce worrisome byproducts of its own, including chemicals called nitrosamines.
"Nitrosamines are the compounds that people warned you about when they told you you shouldn't be eating those nitrite-cured hot dogs," Sedlak says. "They're about a thousand times more carcinogenic than the disinfection byproducts that we'd been worried about with regular old chlorine."
Utilities can take steps to prevent nitrosamines from forming in treated water, and many do. But chloramine turns out to have other risks
https://www.npr.org/2011/01/07/132743638/disinfectant-to-clean-water-has-problems-of-its-own
Most people don’t give much thought to their drinking water other than its taste. Every time you’re drinking tap water, you may also be consuming chlorine.
However, as places like Flint, Michigan in the US showed, contaminants in drinking water and bathing water can have colossal negative effects on people. This is especially true for children, who can have their development severely stunted by these chemicals and metals.
Even if you don’t have lead in your water supply, there may still be sinister chemicals lurking in your water that you can’t see or taste.
http://homewatersystems.ca/dangers-water-chlorination/
PHARMACEUTICALS IN THE WATER SUPPLY
There is no question that these chemicals are present in the nation’s waterways. The USGS conducted the first major investigation in 2002 and found, on average, seven chemical compounds in the streams they surveyed.
In 2008, the Associated Press found an array of pharmaceuticals, from pain killers to antibiotics to mood stabilizers, in the drinking water of 24 major metropolitan water suppliers. Further, 34 of the 62 water suppliers contacted by the AP couldn’t provide results as they had never tested for pharmaceutical compounds.
https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/clean-water/pharmaceuticals-personal-care/
Discarded Drugs May Contaminate 40 Million Americans' Drinking Water
Although millions of people flush unused medications down the toilet and discharge them in bodily waste, sewage treatment plants and septic systems are not required to deal with such contaminants
Pharmaceutical drug contamination in our groundwater, rivers, lakes, estuaries and bays is a growing problem. Millions of us are flushing unused medications down the toilet and discharging them in our body waste—even though sewage treatment plants and septic systems were never designed to deal with such contaminants. Additional discharges by healthcare facilities exacerbate the problem. As a result, researchers have identified traces of pharmaceutical drugs in the drinking water supplies of some 40 million Americans.
According to Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE), the effects of constant, low-level exposure of pharmaceuticals on ecosystems and humans are uncertain, though “possible health concerns include hormone disruption, antibiotic resistance and synergistic effects.” And antidepressants, says CCE, can “alter the behavior and reproductive functions of fish and mollusks.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pharmaceuticals-in-the-water/
Tests in 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Virginia Tech indicated dangerous levels of lead in the water at residents' homes.
Lead consumption can affect the heart, kidneys and nerves. Health effects of lead exposure in children include impaired cognition, behavioral disorders, hearing problems and delayed puberty.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/index.html