When fluoride was first added to water in the 1940s, in an experiment to prevent tooth decay, not a single dental product contained fluoride: no fluoride toothpastes, no fluoride mouth rinses, no fluoride varnishes, and no fluoride gels. In the past 60 years, as more communities began fluoridation and one fluoride product after another entered the market, exposure to fluoride increased considerably, particularly among children.
Exposure from other sources has increased as well, such as: infant formula, processed foods, soups, soda and beer made with fluoridated water, food grown with fluoride-containing pesticides and fumigated in warehouses with sulfuryl fluoride (buy organic!), iced tea, raisins, fruit juices, wine, mechanically deboned chicken, and some pharmaceuticals (e.g. cipro) and fluorinated anaesthetics that metabolize to yield a free fluoride ion. Taken together, the glut of fluoride sources in the modern diet and at the tap has created a toxic cocktail, one that has caused a dramatic increase in dental fluorosis (a tooth defect caused by excess fluoride intake) over the past 60 years. The problem with fluoride, therefore, is not that we are receiving too little (we don’t need any!), but that we are receiving too much.
The best way to avoid fluoride is to work with your friends and neighbors to get it out of your water – or keep it out of the water. That requires organizing and education. If you live in a fluoridated community, you can also encourage your local restaurants and coffee shops to use reverse osmosis filters to remove the fluoride. Tell them that you and your group will publicly thank them with a press release and encourage residents to frequent these thoughtful entrepreneurs in your community. This strategy has been used by a number of campaigns in the U.S. and Ireland to gain attention and support.
FAN also offers educational resources to help you and loved ones reduce exposure from all sources. Our goal is a world safe from fluoride, and understanding sources of exposure and how to protect yourself is an important step towards achieving it.
FAN guides to help you reduce your exposure to fluoride. Please share these guides with your friends and family:
* Top 10 Ways to Reduce Fluoride Exposure
* FAN’s Grocery Guide: 7 Ways to Avoid Fluoride in Beverages and Food
* 5 Ways to Protect Your Infant From Fluoride
* Top 5 Ways to Reduce Fluoride Exposure From Infant Formula
* Considerations When Buying a Water Filter
Fluoride Content in:
* Tea / Bottled Water /Processed Beverages / Fruit Juice / Beer (from ffbeers.com.
* Mechanically Deboned Chicken / Fresh Food
* Dental Products
* Approved Fluoride Levels in U.S. Food
* U.S. Water Systems With Naturally High Fluoride Levels
Source: FAN www.fluorideaalert.org