Fluoride level increase in tap water ‘could lower children’s IQ’

US court ruling sets safe limit at half of proposed fluoridation level proposed by UK Government

A UK Government scheme to add more fluoride to tap water could put children’s IQ at risk, a US court ruling has suggested.
In February, the Government announced that it was planning to raise fluoride levels for millions to improve the nation’s teeth.
However, after a seven-year legal battle between campaigners and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this week a Californian court ruled that fluoridation posed “an unreasonable risk” to the health of children.
The court concluded there was “substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health” and has called on the EPA to act.
In the UK, the Government wants to raise the fluoridation level to 1mg/L, but judges in the US set a safe level of fluoride at 0.4 mg/L, less than half that of planned levels.
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Stephen Peckham, professor of health policy at the University of Kent, said: “The ruling is important because it is forcing the regulatory authority in the US to take action, and it is pretty clear that beyond a particular level there is an unacceptable risk.
“The view of the judge is that the evidence is overwhelming.
“Fluoridation has brain implications and my personal view is that the weight of the evidence is very much against community fluoridation.”
Concerns about fluoride have been growing in recent years, with several studies suggesting the mineral can harm the developing brains of children and pregnant women.
In 2020, York University in Ontario found that an increase of 0.5 mg/L of fluoride in water – approximately the difference between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas – was associated with a 9.3-point decrease in IQ levels for bottle-fed babies when they reached primary school.
Breast-fed children also saw their IQ levels dip by 6.2 per cent.
Last year, the same team reported that fluoride may increase the risk of hypothyroidism in pregnant women. Fluoride’s ability to suppress the thyroid has been known since the 1930s, when it was used to treat an overactive thyroid.
Currently only five water companies add fluoride to water in the UK, mainly in the North-East and West Midlands, covering less than 10 per cent of Britons, while some areas of the country natural fluoride levels already reach the target concentration.
Under government proposals, an initial 1.6 million people will see the mineral added to their water supply, following a consultation in areas including Northumberland, Teesside, Durham and South Tyneside.
The Government said its long-term ambition was to bring fluoridation to many areas of the country, highlighting Ireland and the US, where 73 per cent of people live in areas where fluoride is added to the water.
Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, has claimed that adding fluoride to water supplies could reduce cavities by 17 per cent among the richest and 28 per cent among the poorest.
Tooth decay is the leading cause for hospital admissions among five to nine year-olds in England, with 19,381 children admitted in the last year, according to data published by NHS England on Thursday.
However, experts and campaigners argue that there are other ways to improve dental health without resorting to the “mass medicalisation” of drinking water.
A spokesman for Fluoride Action Network said: “Communities are currently adding this neurotoxin to the water.
“The harm is needlessly self-inflicted, but that also means the solution is simple: ban the use of fluoridation chemicals.”
Some areas of the world naturally have very high levels of fluoride, and it is known to lead to dental fluorosis or crippling skeletal fluorosis, which can lead to calcification of tendons and ligaments, and bone deformities.
The World Health Organisation currently recommends a limit of fluoride in drinking water at 1.5 mg/L, but it is impossible to know how much extra fluoride people are consuming through other means.
Coffee, tea, wine, grapes, potatoes and seafood are all known to be high in fluoride, and any food prepared in fluoridated water will also pick up traces of the mineral.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it still believed that fluoridation was safe but would continue to monitor health effects.
A department spokesman said: “Water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure that reduces tooth decay.
“The fluoride levels permitted in the UK are proven to be safe and are well below the levels of WHO (World Health Organization) safety guidelines.”
“There is a duty to monitor the effects of water fluoridation schemes on health. The next health monitoring report will be published in 2026.”
Coffee, tea, wine, grapes, potatoes and seafood are all known to be high in fluoride, and any food prepared in fluoridated water will also pick up traces of the mineral.