As a new parent I of course want to do everything right. My child was 5 weeks early and never got the hang of nursing. For four months I happily pumped breast milk and bottle-fed her until my health started to decline due to a chronic illness. To control it I had to go on medication that's taboo for breastfeeding. I practically cried the day I had to buy formula. I researched and researched and settled on powdered Similac Organic. I've always read that if you do one thing organic it should be dairy so your baby won't ingest growth hormones that the cows might have been fed. Similac is also the only manufacturer that offers a plastic container that's not lined with BPA. Believe it or not cardboard formula containers are lined with BPA. Nuts. But issues with that chemical are not what I want to focus on today.For two months I fed my child formula mixed with water from our Brita filter. Then one day we were having lunch with a chemist friend who researches fluoride and its effects on human populations. My husband actually used to help this guy back in college and it suddenly dawned on us as we were mixing Lizzie's formula that we were giving her fluoride! A Brita filter does not remove it. Our chemist friend suggested we buy Poland Springs water, since it's been shown to be fluoride free.
Now wait a minute. Doesn't the government PUT fluoride in our water supply? Yes. Isn't it supposed to be good for our teeth? SUPPOSED to be, yes. Is it? That's up for debate.
New studies by the National Research Council actually show that fluoride does more harm than good, especially for babies whose brain are still growing and developing. The American Dental Association has actually reneged on
earlier recommendations about fluoride and now says not to use it in babies. Their reasoning is that it causes fluorosis, which are just white streaks on teeth. But, there's major evidence that fluoride is actually a neurotoxin as shown in a new study published in the Lancet; the NRC warns it can also have major adverse effects on the thyroid gland; and a Harvard study shows it causes cancer." "EPA has more than enough evidence to shut down fluoridation, right now, with a special advisory," says retired EPA scientist, Robert Carton, PhD. "The safe drinking water act requires the EPA to act to protect all populations from known or anticipated harm(8)," says Carton. " This quote speaks for itself....
Many countries, like New Zealand, have already removed it from the water supply. Why hasn't communities in the United States? We've somehow been led to believe that fluoride is necessary for dental health. But is it worth the risks? I say no.
Our family is left right now with three options for safe water: go to a neighboring town that doesn't fluoridate and "steal" water for Lizzie, plumb in the reverse osmosis filtration system we just purchased (but I can't find anyone to tell us whether or not it actually removes fluoride) or continue to make a pile of empty plastic 2.5 gallon Poland Springs jugs. I hate the plastic waste, but my child's sensitive developing brain is more important to me right now.
What can you do? check out this website: http://www.fluoridealert.org/
Posts
Recently I had fluoride treatment at my dentist -for the first time, it seems. "Don't swallow any," the hygienist warned. Later I asked why, what would have happened? "You'd probably get sick," she said. And we both laughed. In fact, I had swallowed just a little, impossible not to really.
ReplyDeleteI got so sick that afternoon and right through the next day that I thought I was dying. Headaches, nausea, weakness - but the headaches were the worst. I didn't think about the fluoride, figuring it was a flu. But it suddenly occurred to me and I looked up my symptoms on the Web. Guess what? No surprise here - I had fluoride poisoning. It's the nastiest most debilitating thing to happen over a 24 hour period, when the headaches finally left. I reported it to the dentist, of course, and I'm now a no-go for fluoride treatment.
I am a very healthy person, often not even getting an annual cold, so this really angered me. I told a few people about it, and they looked at me as if I was crazy.
Perhaps I'm the one in a thousand who reacts to it, but that's still an awful lot of ADULT people, and what about the kids, the small babes?
All of this was caused because I swallowed the tiniest bit... If we drink water every day, we consume quite a lot of fluoride over a year - diluted of course. But there must be residues, surely.
We should start a campaign.
Take care of that sweet new baby.
WOW! What a story! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually a campaign I just found out about from my husband after I read him your comment. I just added it to my post:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/
I just checked it out, it's a great website. I hope you never have to go through that again! -kate
Just saw your post on my site and thought I would look at it and see if I could comment. It is hard to because fluoride is a toxin at high levels. The dentist issue is a big thing, now for the kicker, I don't trust the EPA on almost anything they do, there is just to much politics involved. The Lancet and many Medical journals, I trust, especially when they do research. They find things that none of us expect. I usually try to look at things at an "over time perspective". Fluoride has been put in municipal water supplies for many years, if it was a potent carcinogen then most of us drinking that water supply would have cancer. I am not belittling any of your concern, because as I said before, it is a toxin and I am not sure if I really care to be the Guinea pig that the government wants us to be. In the Eastern US, there are no significant Fluoride deposits , so well water does NOT have fluoride.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@ Whitemist:
ReplyDelete"Fluoride has been put in municipal water supplies for many years, if it was a potent carcinogen then most of us drinking that water supply would have cancer."
Ummmm... almost 50% of us DO have Cancer or WILL have Cancer sometime in our lives.
These are Canadian statistics, I am assuming US statistics are worse, and I don't know where you are from, but...
"40% of Canadian Women and 45% of Canadian Men will develop Cancer in their lifetimes."
That's almost 1 in 2.
"1 out of 4 Canadians will die from it."
By the way, 66% of the U.S population has fluoride in their drinking water, as does 40% of Canadian drinking water.
SOURCE:
2009 Canadian Cancer Statistics
Cancer.ca
http://www.cancer.ca/canada-wide/about%20cancer/cancer%20statistics/~/media/CCS/Canada%20wide/Files%20List/English%20files%20heading/pdf%20not%20in%20publications%20section/Stats%202009E%20Cdn%20Cancer.ashx
This a very read-worthy info. Thank you so much for sharing this, Kate. I still don't know if water supply is fluoridated here in Memphis. Dentists that I've visited for dental check-ups tell me that fluoride really helps prevent cavities and good for the teeth. So I guess that's why he's very careful.
ReplyDeleteNow Fran, your story made me recall the times when my dentist would put fluoride gel on my teeth and I remember him telling me not to swallow. But I'm not sure if I actually did swallow some of it. But anyway, thanks for sharing your experience. I'll be keeping that in mind whenever I visit the dentist.
Is amazing how industry and markets wants to get us, i mean make us use their products that affect the health, in many cases as you say some people develop some strange diseases and some very hard even to name.
ReplyDeleteAWHAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!????? Brita filter does not remove it??? OH MY GOD, I have a Brita filter at home and it is useless?? I must have Poland Springs water then! I hope it is not too late, thanks so much, you may have saved a life with this!
ReplyDeleteUse reverse osmosis water, it's 99.99% pure and takes out the anti-depressants, estrogen, rocket fuel, and fluoride that's allowed in water. The anti-depressants and estrogen is from the urine of people taking pills that can't be taken out during the filtering process. There also is an acceptable level of rocket fuel that's allowed in our tap water. I had to give my son formula because he wasn't able to get enough breast milk but at least I know that he wasn't ingesting the rest of those chemicals because we used reverse osmosis water. It's the best tasting water you'll ever drink because it tastes like water is supposed to taste; like nothing.
ReplyDeleteI think this How to remove Fluoride from water will fully complement your article.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article :) PLease continue publishing helpful topics like this. Regards, from CWR, a company whose into selling countertop water filter that removes fluoride.