SIR – I am sure we can all agree that we are living in times of upheaval, when life feels uncertain and fragile. In this global disruption and fraught environment caused by the Covid19 pandemic it also seems that recent scientific findings published in international journals underlying the effects of water fluoridation on human health have been entirely overlooked by the media, politicians and health authorities in Ireland.
Just prior to the emergence of Covid-19 several epidemiological studies undertaken in North America by some of the leading international experts in environmental neurotoxins examined for the first time the association between fluoride intake and childhood cognitive impairment and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Additional studies undertaken in North America published in late 2019 also examined the effect of fluoride intake on liver, kidney and sex steroid hormones and sleep quality in US children and adolescents. The convergence of evidence from all of these studies demonstrates that fluoride is a dangerous toxin that affects every aspect of human health and that bottle-fed infants, children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to its toxic effects.
This research also highlights that the developing embryo and foetus is affected during pregnancy from maternal exposure to fluoride in diet and drinking water. However, perhaps the most alarming finding from a Canadian study was that water fluoridation was associated with a six-fold higher odds of ADHD diagnosis in children, after accounting for potential confounding variables, such as exposure to second-hand smoke, household income, and blood lead level.
Interestingly, the finding of this study substantiates previous findings from human studies conducted in Mexico published in 2018, which also found that prenatal fluoride exposure was associated with increased risk of ADHD. In the past year I have gone to great lengths to inform the various Taoiseach, Ministers for Health, and politicians from all political parties, including our local representatives of these recent scientific findings, to no end. My communications have been met with silence.
It is also true that my own research on fluoride toxicity has been widely referenced by the scientific community internationally during this period and was noted in particular in the world’s leading paediatrics journal, JAMA Pediatrics, as well as in the most recent review on the Developmental Neurotoxicity of Fluoride by one of the world’s leading toxicologists and environmental health experts, Professor Phillippe Grandjean of Harvard School of Public Health. Also, this time last year I was published in JAMA Pediatrics, where I elucidated the molecular and biological mechanisms which explain the sex-specific findings of the recent Canadian study as to why males are more susceptible to prenatal and early life neurotoxicity from chemical toxins, including fluoride.
As I write this, I am finishing several other studies for submission to scientific journals addressing the molecular mechanisms underlying fluoride toxicity to the brain and other organs which will complement the three separate scientific reviews I had published in a peer-reviewed journal last year.
In ending, this morning I heard a senior cabinet member state on RTÉs ‘Morning Ireland’ that to protect ourselves from Covid-19 we must work with other EU countries and follow the ‘Precautionary Principle.’ Ireland is now in the unique position that we are the only EU country where drinking water is mandated by national legislation.
Given the emerging scientific evidence on fluoride toxicity, isn’t it about time that Ireland also followed the EU and the ‘Precautionary Principle’ when it comes to water fluoridation.
Declan Waugh,
Environmental Scientist,
11 Riverview, Dohertys Road, Bandon.
