The study found that in boys, a 1 mg\/L increase in the maternal urine fluoride concentration led to a 5-point decrease in boys\u2019 IQs.<\/span><\/p>\n Dimitri Christakis and Frederick Rivara of JAMA Pediatrics, in a podcast, compare the findings as overturning decades-old presumptions of safety of fluoridated water.<\/span><\/p>\n Christakis:<\/strong> \u201cBefore they were anti vaxxers, there were sort of anti fluoriders. Right. And like the traditional teaching, when I was going through residency and early in my early professional career was that there was fluoride is completely safe. All these people that are trying to take it out of the water are nuts. It\u2019s the best thing that\u2019s ever happened for children\u2019s dental health. And we just need to push back and get it into every water system.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christakis:<\/strong> \u201cIn fact, before there were anti-vaxxers, there were, sort-of, anti-fluoriders, and the traditional teaching when I was going through residency was that fluoride was completely safe, all these people that are trying to take it out of the water are nuts, it\u2019s the best thing that ever happened\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christakis:<\/strong> \u201cSo when I first saw this title, my initial reaction was \u2018What the hell?’\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Rivara had referenced the title of the study as \u201cshocking\u201d and later said when discussing biological plausibility, citing animal models:<\/span><\/p>\n Christakis<\/strong>: \u201cEven in the animal models, weirdly enough\u2026 the effect is seen in male than female rats, I don\u2019t know to think about that\u2026 There have been other observational studies that have shown this, and there have been animal models as well, showed that fluoride was a neurotoxin, which, again, was totally news to me, I thought it was \u2018junk science\u2019\u2026<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Rivara:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019d be like antivaxxers saying \u2018Fluoride is bad for your brains, so let\u2019s not do it.\u2019 You know, that same kind of thing.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The editors discussed how surprised they were to learn that only 3% of cities in Europe fluoridate their water.<\/span><\/p>\n The philosopher Karl Popper called this shock-reaction \u201cSurprise\u201d, and held that the more unlikely a robust result from a critical test appears to be, the higher the degree of corroboration that should be afforded the unlikely.<\/span><\/p>\n The comparison in this discussion to anti-vaxxers is ironic, given that fluoride and aluminum have known synergistic neurotoxicity<\/a>[<\/strong><\/span>2], just like mercury and aluminum have known synergistic neurotoxicity[3].<\/span><\/p>\n The obvious question is: when will a major pediatrics journal have this level of healthy cognitive disequilibrium about vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, and vaccines and autoimmunity?<\/span><\/p>\n These editors\u2019 reactions to this news about fluoride was the precise reaction I had upon reading all of the studies for my book on autism \u2013 the studies I had no idea about, the ones that were \u201ctotally news to me\u201d.\u00a0 The animal model studies showing plausbility of vaccination and autism (e.g., chronic microglial activation<\/a><\/strong><\/span>), the observational studies that DID find association (e.g., Gallagher and Goodman<\/strong><\/span><\/a>), and, of course the studies I could not read because they were never conducted, diswarranting the generalization that \u201cVaccines Do Not Cause Autism\u201d.\u00a0 I agree 100% with Christakis when he said that \u201cScience is an iterative process\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n It is very good to see an opening of the eyes and minds explicitly represented by this podcast.\u00a0 It is also good to see that that \u201cthose crazy Xr\u2019s\u201d model of science is dying. Christakis is going to recommend bottled or filtered water.\u00a0 His colleague correctly points out that bottled water is not affordable for all families.<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps we really should rethink the wisdom of fluoridation given the apparent effects on autism rates [4] and lifelong effects on dementia as well[5].\u00a0 Science is, after all, for asking questions.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the podcast file:<\/span><\/p>\n JAMA Editors Shocked.mp3<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n I thank Bruce Lanphear for sending the studies and the podcast file along.\u00a0 He\u2019s working on a new book, which I think is on the effect of low-dose toxicity and synergism among toxins that we think, or thought, were safe.<\/span><\/p>\n References and Full \u201cShocking\u201d Pubmed Searches<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [1]\u00a0https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/30788699<\/a><\/p>\n [2] https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/?term=fluoride+aluminum+synergistic<\/a><\/p>\n [3] https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/?term=aluminum+mercury+synergistic<\/a><\/p>\n [4] https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/31527457<\/a><\/p>\n [5] https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/30868981<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lifebiomedguru.files.wordpress.com\/2019\/09\/bruce.jpg?w=700&h=425\")
<\/p>\n