Dr. Mark Hyman Warns of Fluoride Risks to Diabetics, Kidney Patients, and Thyroid Function
April 5, 2016: Ellijay, Georgia: Physician and nine-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr. Mark Hyman has joined a growing chorus of influential leaders highlighting possible health risks from drinking fluoridated municipal water.
Known to millions of American television viewers for his media appearances, Dr. Hyman is also calling for a federal investigation of water fluoridation.
“There are numerous mechanisms by which uncontrolled dosing of fluorides through water fluoridation can potentially harm thyroid function, the body and the brain,” he says.
Hyman states, “I support federal investigative hearings looking into why our cities and towns are allowed to continue to add fluoride to public water sources and why the whole story about fluorides is only just now coming out.”
Water fluoridation is the long-controversial practice of adding fluoride chemicals to drinking water for the purpose of helping to prevent cavities.
Decades-long unease with fluoridation is accelerating rapidly with a spate of new studies and media accounts describing how ingested fluorides can potentially be harmful.
Freedom of Information Act documents also show active efforts by fluoridation promoters to direct public attention away from possible harmful impacts of fluorides.
Daniel G. Stockin, MPH, a public health professional known internationally for his work to end water fluoridation, points out that, “The National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences says that kidney patients, diabetics, seniors, and other groups are ‘susceptible subpopulations’ especially vulnerable to harm from ingested fluorides. Yet strangely cities continue to allow uncontrolled dosing of these groups with fluorides in their water. Now we have documents showing that certain vested interest groups worked actively to keep people from grasping what is happening. It’s no wonder a full-fledged Fluoridegate scandal is erupting.”
Key national figures such as Erin Brockovich, Lois Gibbs, and Alveda King have called for Fluoridegate scandal hearings, and momentum for federal hearings is accelerating as impacted constituency groups awaken to the issue.
For years a vaunted pillar of public health, water fluoridation is reeling from media coverage once deemed unthinkable, such as a recent national television appearance by Erin Brockovich on the subject, and a three-part Spanish language series aired to Hispanic viewers in Atlanta, home to the Centers for Disease Control that has promoted fluoridation.
Voicing his concern about possible fluoride harm to the thyroid and to certain groups, Dr. Hyman says, “A malfunctioning thyroid often leads to weight gain. And diabetics and patients with kidney disease are often thirsty, causing them to consume increased amounts of fluorides if they have access to only fluoridated water. Communities of color and the underserved are disproportionately harmed by fluorides because most rely on municipal water sources, many of which continue to add fluoride, despite research showing the potential harms and negating the potential benefits.”
“Our federal government says that 4.6 million people over age 12 have hypothyroidism, more than 20 million adults have some level of kidney disease, and more than 29 million people have diabetes,” Stockin says.
“Clearly these groups deserve to hear the whole story about possible harm from drinking fluoridated water,” he observes.
