Fluoride chemicals purposely added to water supplies to thwart cavities, are contaminated with lead, arsenic and other impurities. And children who live in silicofluoridated communities have higher blood-lead levels.

"Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body. Because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it frequently goes unrecognized. Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death," according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Only three chemicals are certified for fluoridation: sodium fluoride, hydrofluosilicic or fluosilicic acid, and sodium silicofluoride (the latter silicofluorides), according to the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF).

"...the most common contaminant detected in these products is Arsenic...," reports NSF. "The other significant contaminant found...is Lead," they report.

Two studies in the current (April 17) New England Journal of Medicine show that even low blood levels of lead, previously thought to be benign, are associated with lower IQ scores in young children and delayed onset of puberty in girls.

"...children suffer intellectual impairment at a blood-lead concentration below the level of 10 micrograms per deciliter (mcg/dl) -- about 100 parts per billion -- currently considered acceptable by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)," according to a Cornell University News Release.

"'We also found that the amount of impairment attributed to lead was most pronounced at lower levels,' says Richard Canfield, lead author of the journal paper and a senior researcher in Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences," according to the release.

"All of the fluoride chemicals used in the U.S. for water ... are byproducts of the phosphate fertilizer industry" writes Tom Reeves, National Fluoridation Engineer, CDC. "Arsenic...had an average of 0.43... parts per billion (ppb) in the drinking water attributable to the fluoride chemical," he reports.

The American Water Works Association is worried about arsenic-contaminated fluoride chemicals. If arsenic's maximum contaminant level is reduced to 5 ppb, "90 percent of the arsenic that would be contributed by treatment chemicals is attributable to fluoride addition," according to their journal, "Opflow."

"Even small amounts of arsenic may cause cells to lose some of their ability to repair genetic damage, a new study has found," as reported by the Modesto Bee. "The results help explain why arsenic contamination in drinking water may lead to certain cancers. Without the ability to repair its own DNA, a cell could be vulnerable to damage from other pollutants, such as cigarette smoke. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School described their findings in the current issue of the International Journal of Cancer," according to the Modesto Bee, a California Newspaper.(5)

Arsenic levels as high as 1.66 ppb have been found in hydrofluosilicic treated drinking water, which, according to the National Academy of Sciences, is a cancer risk.

"It is unconscionable that water engineers are allowed to purposely add lead- and arsenic-contaminated fluoride into water supplies without consumers' knowledge or informed consent, at the urging of misinformed dentists," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President and General Counsel, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

Some experts say safe levels for arsenic or lead don't exist.