Fluoridation: Don't Let the Poisonmongers Scare You

Quackwatch ^ | March 30, 2013 | Bob Sprague, Mary Bernhardt, Stephen Barrett, M.D.

[cripplecreek]

Urban people who drink fluoridated water vs rural people who don’t.

[BipolarBob]

There’s already fluoridated toothpaste to address this.

[katana]

[Psalm 73]

"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids"

United States Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper

[Dr. Sivana]

How about we decide what to put in our own drinking water?

[IYAS9YAS]

Fluoride is great when used topically. Not so great when ingested. Actually, too much fluoride consumption can cause even worse problems.

Dental Fluorosis.

Higher doses than recommended can actually weaken teeth, bones, and ligaments, cause muscle weakness, and nerve problems. The safe level is about 20mg/day.

FLUORIDE: Uses, Side Effects, & Safety

[Oak Grove]

If you want fluoride in your water, you should purchase bottled water with fluoride in it.

If you do not want fluoride in your water, you should not have it forced on you by having it in your public drinking water.

Are we no longer a free people?

[WayneS]

But many others receive public water supplies that are not fluoridated—thanks largely to the efforts of poisonmongers

Or maybe the people who manage these public water systems don't want to incur additional operating costs - costs which they would need pass on to the consumer in the form of higher water rates.

[OKSooner]

See post number four...

[Corey Ohlis]

Why don’t we start with our gas tanks first?

[cripplecreek]

I’ve never lived anywhere with fluoridated water and I still have all my teeth at 50 years old. Hell I even have my wisdom teeth.

[AppyPappy]

You can already buy water that is not fluoridated.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

My first thought upon reading the title.

[Dr. Sivana]

Why don’t we start with our gas tanks first?

No reason why we can't do both! And I'm no libertarian, but common sense is common sense.

[WayneS]

The EPA lists an MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) for Flouride of 4 mg/L (ppm).

Here is the exact text from the EPA's list of: Potential health effects from long-term exposure above the MCL for Flouride.

"Possible Bone disease (pain and tenderness of the bones); children may get mottled teeth."

[WayneS]

If you want fluoride in your water, you should purchase bottled water with fluoride in it.

Exactly!

[WayneS]

The antis' most persuasive argument, both to legislators and to the general public, is to call for a public vote. On the surface, this appears to be the democratic way to settle the issue. But the antis are dealing from a stacked deck. First, the people who need fluoridation the most—the children—do not vote..

This guy used both the "my opponenst act like Hitler" argument and the "will somebody PLEEEEAAAASE think of the children" argument to bolster his case.

That makes him a two-time loser.

[WayneS]

And, on top of that, he used the "people are too stupid to know what's best for them so they need to let ME and other smart people decide what's best for them" argument...

Second, it is not difficult to confuse voters by flooding the community with scare propaganda. Average citizens do not have the educational background to sort out claim and counterclaim or to judge which "authorities" to believe.

That's three strikes. He is OUT and his side loses.

[Dr. Sivana]

You can already buy water that is not fluoridated.

You cannot live in a house (in most jurisdictions) that is not connected to city water if available. So, we are ordered to buy flouride.

For the record, my children spent there first years mostly in a house with a well and no flouride (other than what occurs naturally). They have one cavity among the three of them (ages 6 through 14). My wife as a teen went to a dentist who was instrumental in getting flouride added to their Canadian jurisdiction. She had zero cavities, and the dentist told her that the flouride was responsible! She was too Canadian to tell him they lived out of the city and had non-flouridated well water. I grew up with flouridated water, and wound up with plenty of cavities, probably more due to eating sweets than anything. Nowhere in the article does the author address concern about long term damage to kidneys or bones, which would not have been looked at in those early studies that focused on teeth.

Adding toothpaste to the mix puts the range over the 1 part per million. The condescending tone in the article that experts have to decide for all of us is insulting, and has led to ObamaLunch and Obamacare.

This is not my be all and end all issue, and I appreciate that the decisions are largely made at the local level, but if the vote were put up in my jurisdiction, I would say "No flouride added to the water".