September 19, 2017•Update: September 19, 2017
By Barry Ellsworth
TRENTON, Ont.
Fluoride in drinking water consumed during pregnancy can result in lower intelligence in children, according to a study published Tuesday by two Canadian universities and other institutions.
The study has particular significance to countries using fluoride in their drinking water to reduce cavities in teeth, a common practice in Canada for decades, because the new study shows fluoride may be a neurotoxin to children.
A neurotoxin is a poison that affects the nervous system.
The first of its kind study was led by Dr. Howard Hu, a professor of environmental health, epidemiology and global health at the University of Toronto.
Among other institutions that participated were Canada’s McGill University and Harvard University in the U.S.
The results were published online in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal.
“In this study, higher prenatal fluoride exposure (in pregnant women) … was associated with lower scores on tests of cognitive function in the offspring at age [4] and [6]-12,” according to the study.
Researchers studied 287 mothers and children in Mexico City, taking urine samples from mothers during pregnancy and from their children between 6 and 12 years of age. The samples were taken between 1994 and 2005.
At age 4, the children were subjected to intelligence tests that included verbal and memory skills.
The tests were repeated between the ages of 6 and 12.
Researchers found a significant link between high fluoride levels in mothers when pregnant and lower scores on the tests, Canadian and U.S. media reported.
The results may be due to rapid development of a baby’s brain in the mother’s womb, Hu said.
“This is consistent with a growing appreciation in environmental health that the growing fetal nervous system is more sensitive to exposures than a developed nervous system,” he told Canadian media.
The level of fluoride used in the study was significantly higher than what is found in fluoridated water, but Hu said the findings “open the door” to recognizing fluoride as a neurotoxin.
Hu also said his was just one “rigorous” study and more research should be done on the adverse affects of fluoride on pregnancy and resultant children.
His remarks were echoed by Kevin Marsh, communications director for the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.
"We have seen reports of the new study but as the author (Hu) suggests, this is just one study and more research is needed," Marsh told Anadolu Agency.
