The National Party is relying on outdated and discredited science in its continued support of adding a hazardous waste (“fluoride”) to the public water supply. The most up-to-date scientific review has been completed by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP), finding that higher fluoride exposure is consistently associated with lower IQ in children (see page 13 of the Monograph).

The NTP is in the final stages of publishing its findings from this 6-year review into fluoride’s neurotoxicity. The top science organisation in the United States of America the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has peer reviewed the NTP review twice.

On the 16th of May 2023 the NTP Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) unanimously voted to release the final version within the next few weeks/months. The latest draft review has been released including the peer reviewer’s comments and the NTP response to those comments.

The latest draft review was made public in May and has not been considered by the Ministry of Health (by its own admission) or the Office of Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor.

The NTP review was issued in two parts: a monograph and a meta-analysis. The review concluded that prenatal and early life exposures can reduce IQ and that the meta-analysis could not detect a safe level of exposure. The meta-analysis reported that 52 of 55 human IQ studies found lower IQ with high and low fluoride exposures - 95% consistency. The average reduction was 7 IQ points. Leaded petrol was causing a 4.25 IQ point loss in NZ, with measurable negative life outcomes.

Of the 19 studies rated higher quality, 18 found a lowering of IQ.

The NTP recognised that of the high-quality studies the Canadian and Mexican cohort data were the strongest. Those studies included Bashash 2017, Bashash 2018, Green 2019, Till 2020, Farmus 2021. Those studies found an IQ reduction range between 3 – 9 IQ points. On average, a 1ppm increase may cause a 5 IQ point reduction. In New Zealand we fluoridate at a range of between 0.7ppm – 1ppm which means we could be lowering IQ in New Zealand children by between 3 and 5 IQ points on average. The Till 2020 IQ study was on infant formula being reconstituted with fluoridated water and found a 9 IQ point reduction at 1ppm.

The September 2022 draft concluded that there was no safe threshold of fluoride in the water, stating on page 652 “there is no obvious threshold”. 
Criticisms of the NTP report by the fluoride promotors such as the American Dental Association have been repeatedly repudiated by the NTP, stating clearly that the report's conclusions were very much relevant to fluoridated communities and pointing out that the "highest quality studies showing lower IQs in children were done in ‘optimally’ fluoridated areas”.

Christopher Luxon has previously said that “The National Party is backing the science on fluoridation - no doubt about it”. The result of this major international fluoride review shows that both National and Labour are misguided in their blind dogmatic support for fluoridation in New Zealand, which must be stopped immediately.

Only 4% of the world’s population received fluoridated water, and 98% of Europe is not fluoridated.

The NTP is a collaboration between the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (part of the Centers for Disease Control), the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (part of the National Institutes of Health). The NTP is the Go-To agency when the US Government want to review any “agents of concern”.

Fluoride Free NZ has been dedicated to promoting the true science about fluoridation since 2003 and opposing this increasingly discredited practice.

See https://fluoridefree.org.nz/national-toxicology-program-review/ to links to all of the above.

© Scoop Media