YESTERDAY, WE LINKED INTO THE AAAS MEMBER COMMUNITY discussing RFK Jr. and his potential elimination of fluoridation in our drinking water. Today in Part 2 we continued sharing this cogent discourse.
Well-Executed Science. AAAS member Mary T. McGuire, another regular contributor to such forums, responds, “It is hard to ignore a middle ground with people who deny the validity of well-executed clinical trials.”
Yes, and also siding with those trials that have been withdrawn. To wit, the Wakefield autism matter.
With regard to COVID, McGuire notes, “Presumably, COVID vaccines are still available from local sources other than the public health department.”
I surely hope so. My Covid booster update is scheduled for November 15, based on my last one six months ago. I also wonder if certain Idaho districts will show any changes in Covid infections.
Back to Fluoridation. Robert Dodge offers, “Elisabeth, fluoridation of public water supplies is a fraught question, with reasonable arguments on both sides. This article gives a pretty good review: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6309358/….”
Indeed, the article in the NIH National Library of Medicine is a lengthy one. From its Abstract: “The discovery of fluoride in dentistry has revolutionized treatment modalities with a new aspect of prevention and conservation of tooth structure coming into foreplay. Since then, there has been a lot of research on both topical and systemic fluoridation in an overzealous attempt to control the most debilitating dental problem of caries.”
It continues, “Although topical fluoride is still being widely used as a preventive measure for dental caries, systemic administration of the same has gained major criticism worldwide due to the low margin of safety of fluoride and no control over the amount of individual intake when administered on a community level.”
From the paper’s Conclusion: “On the international front, most of the west European countries have rejected water fluoridation including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. The only three western European countries which still practice water fluoridation are Ireland (100%), Spain (10%), and the United Kingdom (11%).”
Will Anyone Care? Robert Dodge and Elisabeth Atems discuss ethical and moral aspects of the matter. Though it’s evidently far from settled, he makes an interesting comment: “I’m going to go out on a limb and say that RFK will do his best to get it removed from public water systems, but that there will not be a large public outcry in opposition.”
“Unlike the reversal of Roe v. Wade,” he writes, “where a woman’s right to choose was taken away, removing fluoride from public water actually puts the fluoridation issue back in the hands of the individual. I don’t see mass demonstrations calling for reinstatement when you can get fluoride toothpaste in the drugstore. I may be wrong, of course; as Yogi said, ‘It’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future…’ :).” ds
It’s helpful indeed to have intelligent, informed discourses free of brain worms, whale heads, and bear corpses hidden in Central Park. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024