Federal standards do not guard against excess fluoride in drinking water damaging bones and teeth.
Enamel Fluorosis
Children exposed to water at or near the maximum fluoride limit set for the government risk developing severe tooth enamel fluorosis, which causes discoloration, enamel loss and pitting of the teeth. Enamel fluorosis can be a serious problem, as tooth enamel protects the teeth from decay and infection.
Fruit Juice and Infant Formula
Fluorosis can also occur in children who drink beverages made from fluoridated water, including fruit juice and infant formula. This could be due either to overconsumption of such drinks, or consumption of drinks prepared with naturally high-fluoride water.
Bone Fractures
The EPA limits the amount of fluoride in drinking water to 4 parts per million (ppm) -- but that's four times what the American Dental Association claims is needed to fight cavities (0.7-1.2 ppm). As a result, some regions far exceed the existing EPA standard.
In those areas, as many as 10 percent of children younger than age 8 are afflicted with severe cases of dental fluorosis. Infants and young children are especially fragile, for the same reason the mercury contained in vaccines harms them: Low body weight.
States that expose Americans to more fluoride than they should: Texas, Virginia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Indiana, Colorado and New Mexico.
Even if you don't live in one of those states, kids are being exposed to harmful fluoride from seemingly unlikely sources. The health-harming culprits should sound very familiar to you: 100-percent fruit juice and infant formula.
Tooth problems aren't the only health connections to fluoride, as it has been also linked to cancer, low IQs, genetic disorders and muscle degeneration.
If you're at all skeptical about the harm fluoridation can do, consider this: Eleven employee unions connected to the EPA have argued for a moratorium on such programs and have asked the federal agency to recognize its cancer-causing risks.
These are serious issues and one of the reasons you don't want to regularly drink tap water -- nearly all commercial tap water in the United States is fluoridated. So you will want to make certain that your regular source of drinking water is clean and pure.
Be careful about using bottled water regularly, though. Unless you are using the five-gallon recyclable jugs, the small water bottles are an enormous environmental strain, and they are best avoided except for occasional use.
I cringe every time I use one of them, as I hate to see the burden that the plastic puts on the environment. If you purify your water at home you can bring it to work with you in a glass or "safe" plastic container.
Getting back to the fluoride issue though, if you wish to make your feelings known about fluoridation, I urge you to visit the Fluoride Action Network's Web site, sign their online petition and send a letter to your Congressman, or you can review the excellent book, the Fluoride Deception.