Government Report Links High Fluoride Exposure With Low IQ Among Children

Exposing children to high levels of fluoride is “consistently associated” with lower IQ, and potentially other neurodevelopmental issues, according to a report by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). In 2016, NTP started a systematic review of scientific literature to ascertain links between fluoride and cognition. On Aug. 21, it published a report detailing its findings. A total of 72 studies reviewed in the report examined how fluoride exposure affected children’s IQ. Sixty-four of these studies found an “inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children,” meaning higher exposure was linked to lower IQ and vice versa. “This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher estimated fluoride exposures … are consistently associated with lower IQ in children,” the report stated. NTP is a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services....