Posted on 11/29/2024 2:27:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
Few EU countries still fluoridate their water supplies, but there's no evidence that countries in Europe stopped because of health harms.
As US President-elect Donald Trump charts his second term in the White House, an unusual suspect is at the top of the health policy to-do list: removing fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral that helps prevent tooth decay, from the water supply.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr – an environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, and Trump’s pick to lead the US health department – has called fluoride an "industrial waste" and said Trump will push to remove it on day one of his presidency in January.
The focus on fluoridation may seem mysterious to some, given the US and Europe started adding fluoride to drinking water to boost children’s dental health in the mid-1900s. It has been shown to reduce cavities by about 25 per cent.
In the US, state and local authorities decide whether to fluoridate water, but the government currently recommends a level of 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per litre of water, well below the World Health Organization (WHO)'s safety threshold of 1.5 mg/L.
However, there also appear to be some risks tied to long-term fluoridation above that level.
Research from countries with naturally high levels of fluoride suggests that excessive consumption is linked to bone weakening and lower IQ in children.
That has prompted backlash to fluoride over the years, with opponents claiming that European countries have "rejected" or banned fluoridation.
But is that really true? And how do European countries stack up when it comes to fluoride in drinking water?
Ireland, England, Wales, and parts of Spain currently add fluoride to water, according to researchers from Dublin City University.
About 10 per cent of England’s population has access to "optimally" fluoridated water, compared with 11 per cent in Spain and 73 per cent in Ireland, the British Society Foundation said in 2020.
Earlier this year, England moved to boost its fluoridation programme to cover more people in the northeastern part of the country, but the plan hasn’t moved forward.
Meanwhile, several Irish localities have stopped the practice, and Ireland's government launched a comprehensive review in 2014 to assess the potential health risks tied to fluoridation.
They published their most recent findings earlier this year, concluding that there is no definitive evidence for the vast majority of health problems but that more research is needed on the potential impact on the brain’s nervous system and hormone-related conditions.
Why don’t most European countries add fluoride to water?
According to the Dublin City University researchers, 11 EU and UK countries used to add fluoride to water but have since stopped: the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, and Sweden.
Another 14 countries never adopted the practice to begin with, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, and Slovenia.
Policymakers gave a number of reasons why they don’t fluoridate water, including people’s ability to get fluoride from tablets, toothpaste, or naturally occurring sources; out-of-date evidence that fluoridation helps with dental cavities; questions about individual rights and "mass medication"; and logistical hurdles in implementing a fluoride programme.
A few also reported public safety concerns, but they did not cite any actual health risks tied to fluoridation, the researchers found.
"There is no evidence that any country in the EU ceased adding fluoride because of evidence of harm," they concluded.
Are European countries still debating fluoride?
Not really – and especially not the Dutch, according to Roberta Hofman, a senior scientist at the KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands began adding fluoride to some drinking water as an experiment in 1953, eventually reaching about 2.5 million people by the late 1960s.
However, in 1973, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that there was no legal basis for fluoridation and that policymakers would have to pass a new law to add fluoride – without ruling on whether it is good or bad for people’s health.
The debate hasn’t been meaningfully revived since then, Hofman told Euronews Health.
"People started to say, ‘Well, the government should not give us some medicine [when] we cannot choose where to buy our drinking water from," she said.
"In the Netherlands, we don't want to add chemicals or anything to drinking water".
Someone said they are OVER chlorinating in some ares. Really don’t know the science. But thought there was a NEW way to get flouride to these kids...with some type of mouth piece.
Who makes and sells Flouride ?i read it cost 63 cents per person per year in Texas
Fluoride used to be used to treat overactive thyroid. Maybe the amount in drinking water harms people with hypothyroid, maybe it doesn’t. Seems like it should be their choice to ingest it or not.
And a bunch of people do not drink tap water anyway. Which I find weird but what do I know.
No General Ripper warnings about safeguarding our precious bodily fluids, this is disappointing FR.
less than a minute away :)
Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper was unavailable for comment.
Besides, most of us are still replenishing our precious bodily fluids after a day of overeating yesterday, made all the more problematic with the water being adulterated with certain communist chemicals...
Are there any toothpastes made today that don’t have Fluoride in their formula? Why would have to add Fluoride to the water any more, it’s whole different world today than in 1945. Hawaii bans Fluoridation, do a lot of Hawaiians have cavity riddled and rotting teeth?
You beat me by 2 minutes.
Will we see Leftists trying to add it to their water? Probably.
I might have nosed him out but I had trouble picking the best gif
Red, green and black tea all contain a substantial amount of Flouride.
Yes there are toothpastes without fluoride. They’re even carrying some in the pharmacy section of the grocery store now
I’m at the wrong computer right now, but I’m going to come back and post a follow-up to you on some research that indicates another way to protect teeth and rebuild the enamel that does not require fluoride.
“Are there any toothpastes made today that don’t have Fluoride in their formula?”
I think so, but I don’t know which ones.
If you do use a Fluoride toothpaste just make sure you don’t swallow any. If you do, read the warning label and call the poison center.
"Donald Trump Could Push the US to Stop Adding Fluoride to Water. Where Does Europe Stand? [Most Don't]"
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument
The states need to stop relying on the compromised, unconstitutionally big central government, in trying to find a better way of life for their respective citizens.
More specifically, ignore what the constitutionally limited power (hint), peacetime federal government says about anything not reasonably related to the US Mail Service, the mail service being one of the very few, MAIN powers that the states have given to the feds to dictate domestic policy, most federal domestic policy now based on stolen state powers.
"Article I, Section 8, Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"
"It is one of a few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States." (non-FR)
The congressional record shows that Rep. John Bingham, a constitutional lawmaker, had clarified the federal government's constitutionally limited powers as follows.
”Simply this, that the care of the property, the liberty, and the life of the citizen, under the solemn sanction of an oath imposed by your Constitution, is in the States and not in the federal government [emphases added]. I have sought to effect no change in that respect in the Constitution of the country.” —John Bingham, Congressional. Globe. 1866, page 1292 (see top half of third column)
"From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added]." —United States v. Butler, 1936.
Regarding the question of health benefits of putting fluoride in water, the states need to start practicing Justice Louis Brandeis' good advice concerning his "laboratories of democracy" metaphor in the context of 10th Amendment state powers.
For example, a given state should find counties who would be willing to volunteer to stop using fluoride, while other counties continue to use it, comparing results after a few years.
"[...] a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." —Justice Louis Brandeis, Laboratories of Democracy.
Nobody cares what Europe does.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.