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© 2019 AFPControversial study links fluoride in water to lower IQ
By Fred TANNEAU WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© 2019 AFP
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Kobe White Bar Owner
This has been known for decades. Japan luckily doesn't fluoridate its water unlike my country of origin England.
A.M.
Another propaganda made by the anti-fluoride campaigners. Non fluoridated is a major reason why Japanese have bad teeth.
virusrex
It is interesting but too hyped for the results obtained, unfortunately that is to be expected because of the people that are married to the idea that fluoride has to be bad and will latch to this study as if it were a holy text.
As mentioned in the article the effects observed are weak and inconsistent. Not so weak as to be considered background noise, but perfectly on the levels of a study that can be later contradicted by others in the future without surprise.
Luddite
Poor methodology gives flawed conclusions. This is the most significant part of this article;
Scrote
Here is the article: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2748634
They state that women living in areas with fluoridated water had an average of 0.69 mg/L of fluoride in their urine, whereas those in non-fluoridated areas had 0.40 mg/L. Thus, the effect on IQ, if any, would be about 1 point. Given the sample sizes it's difficult to draw any firm conclusions.
They also note that black and green tea are also significant sources of fluoride, which I didn't know. One more thing to worry about if you are pregnant.
umbrellaman
Congratulations! Did you really just figure this out!? The Nazis knew this when they were the first ones to experiment with water fluoridation on the Jews. Lower bone density and IQs were observed. This is SUPER old news.
umbrellaman
Naturally occurring fluoride in water is not the same as artificially induced supplies.
Cheers to you JT! You can now almost see the curve!
seadog538
At least the dimwits will have nice teeth!
Tokyo-Engr
This study is being accepted by (and even shocking) some of those that called those being against fluoridation "consipiracy theorists" or worse. The study has been peer reviewed and even scoured over by some to try to find fault and they concluded the evidence is even stronger (i.e. the negative impact of fluoridation).
The production of fluoride used for additives to drinking water is a rather disgusting process and the mechanism in which it is added does not necessarily ensure the lowest levels deemed necessary are consistently added to the water supply.
Some people see this as a deliberate attempt to dumb down the population and others see it as a way for business to make money (production and sales). Either way this is a convincing study which provides empirical data which is very hard to refute. The only controversy is it provides results that some do not like.
albaleo
Not a very helpful statement. How many industrial countries? From what I can see, very few countries add fluoride to the water. Where I am (Scotland), it's illegal to do so. On the other hand, in Ireland (Republic), it is compulsory.
Only a small number of water authorities in England add fluoride. It affects about 5 million people.
theFu
First,
2nd, if I lost 1-5 IQ points in exchange for cavity free teeth (which I have) the last many decades, then it is well worth it.
But these studies don't appear to be worth the paper they were printed on. Knowing the facts is good, but only if they are scientifically accepted and other peer researchers can reproduce them.
albaleo
But if you lost the IQ points so that your mother could have cavity free teeth, would it be worth it?
(Although other data appears to show that rates of dental cavities have fallen equally across places with and without fluoridated water. Presumably because things such as fluoridated toothpaste are just as effective.)
virusrex
Who are these "some"? because the opposite is quite common, their results are hugely adjusted for some parameters that have not been proved relevant and ignored others very well known variables that are likely to affect the data very strongly (such as lead exposure that strangely was not examined). The prior evidence was not taken in account for the statistical significance calculation, etc. etc.
Not really, results are barely significant after very arbitrary adjustments, they are not dose dependent as should be expected and inexplicably affect only boys and not girls without any reason for this, as it would be expected if this was for example an amplification of background noise. Very important is also to notice that the whole significance depends on only 2 cases of boys with extremely severe learning problems that in strict studies can be classified as outliers. A good statistician normally makes a calculation to show that significance is maintained even if you don't count these 2 cases, but for some reason in this article it was not done.
There is no need for controversy for the paper, science works like this. The results are interesting but at the level of prior evidence and the valid criticism this can very easily be one more example of a study that do things properly and still get wrong results. Thinking a single study with very limited significance in its results is enough to prove something is simply a mistake.
garymalmgren
Japan luckily doesn't fluoridate its water unlike my country of origin England.
The leading opponents/lobbyists against fluoridation of water in Japan are dentists.
The reason is it would lead to a reduction in cavities and therefore less patients.
All hail the lobbyists.
gary