You may have grown up with it and just take it for granted: fluoride in your water. But we would be aghast if we discovered that the city was adding any other medicine to our water supply for pharmaceutical purposes. Dr. Bill Osmunson is a dentist and an avid supporter of fluoride opposition in the US. "I promoted fluoridation for 25 years," Dr. Osmunson admits. But then his patients began questioning it and urging him to review the science once again. What he found was disturbing – we are consuming far too much fluoride to levels that are actually toxic. According to the research literature, you should brush your teeth with no more than one-quarter of a milligram of fluoride, and call Poison Control if you swallow that amount… When you see a toothpaste ad, that long swirl of toothpaste is actually more than one month's worth!  What's worse, one-quarter milligram of fluoride also equals just one glass of the average tap water. How much fluoride do we consume in an average day then? Studies have shown that fluoride exposure causes IQ deficits in children. Fluoride has been shown to have an adverse effect on thyroid function and poses a rise to kidney patients. Excess fluoride causes skeletal flourosis resulting in diminished bone density and strength. There are risks to infants and even teeth from excess fluoride. Ninety-seven percent of Western Europe does not fluoridate and in fact China, does not allow water fluoridation because it's too toxic and causes damage, according to their studies. Instead, the waste product from their phosphate fertilizer industry is shipped to North America, where we add it to our water supply! So what can you do about it? The Fluoride Action Network http://fluoridealert.org has a game plan to end water fluoridation in both Canada and the United States. But in the meantime, for the cleanest, purest water use a water ionizer like an UltraStream to remove impurities like fluoride from your drinking water.    
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