As bans spread, fluoride in drinking water divides communities across the US
As bans spread, fluoride in drinking water divides communities across the US
The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing fluoride has some community leaders arguing that its addition to public drinking water is no longer necessary. But public health experts worry that, much like vaccines, fluoridation may be a victim of its own success.
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It is a scenario playing out nationwide. From Oregon to Pennsylvania, hundreds of communities have in recent years either stopped adding fluoride to their water supplies or voted to prevent its addition. Supporters of such bans argue that people should be given the freedom of choice. The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing the mineral makes it no longer necessary to add to public water supplies, they say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that while store-bought products reduce tooth decay, the greatest protection comes when they are used in combination with water fluoridation.
The outcome of an ongoing federal case in California could force the Environmental Protection Agency to create a rule regulating or banning the use of fluoride in drinking water nationwide. In the meantime, the trend is raising alarm bells for public health researchers who worry that, much like vaccines, fluoride may have become a victim of its own success.
The CDC maintains that community water fluoridation is not only safe and effective but also yields significant cost savings in dental treatment. Public health officials say removing fluoride could be particularly harmful to low-income families — for whom drinking water may be the only source of preventive dental care.
“If you have to go out and get care on your own, it’s a whole different ballgame,” said Myron Allukian Jr., a dentist and past president of the American Public Health Association. Millions of people have lived with fluoridated water for years, “and we’ve had no major health problems,” he said. “It’s much easier to prevent a disease than to treat it.”
According to the anti-fluoride group Fluoride Action Network, since 2010, over 240 communities around the world have removed fluoride from their drinking water or decided not to add it.
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God i wish my community fluoridated its water. Just had a kid, and anything to help prevent cavities is amazing, and low levels of floride is such an easy, risk free and cheap solution.
Buy fluoridated water for your kid, don't dose the population with drugs in their water.
None of that conspiracy stuff matters, it doesn't matter if fluoride is 100% safe. Don't put drugs in tap water.
but what if the water is naturally too high in fluoride. should we not use "drugs" to remove the flouride to bring it back to safe levels?
Should we remove the "calcium drug" that is in groundwater too? and trace iron? those are drugs the same way fluoride is, should we be removing them?
What about the chlorine we add to water to make sure water remains safe. thats a "drug", isnt it? should we only ship raw water, and just accept some people will die?
Or should we put on our bigboy pants, and deal with reality?
but what if the water is naturally too high in fluoride. should we not use “drugs” to remove the flouride to bring it back to safe levels?
If a natural body of water that is to be used as a water supply has high levels of a dangerous substance, yes, it should be removed. I'd say this is common sense, you don't drink dirty water just because it's "natural". Also, it's not necessary to use other drugs to remove fluoride. Either way, I'm saying adding drugs to municipal water supplies is not a good idea, I'm not making any claims about natural bodies of water.
Should we remove the “calcium drug” that is in groundwater too? and trace iron? those are drugs the same way fluoride is, should we be removing them?
Again, I'm saying adding a drug to municipal water supplies is problematic, not making claims about appropriateness of groundwater.
What about the chlorine we add to water to make sure water remains safe. thats a “drug”, isnt it? should we only ship raw water, and just accept some people will die?
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These are very different questions. If you suddenly removed chlorine from tap water around the U.S., massive numbers, perhaps tens of millions of people would likely die within days. If you suddenly removed the fluoride, rates of tooth decay would increase over the following years.
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Chlorine added to water is not a drug meant to affect the the body of the consumer, it's to prevent spread of water borne disease.
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Ideally, no I don't want chlorine added either -- the need for chlorinated water is another one of the many problems we create for ourselves when we live at a grotesque overpopulation.
Or should we put on our bigboy pants, and deal with reality?
The reality is that we add a known neurotoxin to our tap water and drug our population to reduce tooth decay. Disprove this statement. Is fluoride not a known neurotoxin?
Its just an odd double standard you have, some chemicals are OK to be added, others are not. My thought process is very simple "fluoride is extremely safe, and everyone deserves the opportunity to live without cavities, lets level that playing field, the same as we do by chlorinating our water"
Fluoride is NOT a neurotoxin in the amounts the found in tap water. Everything is toxic in high enough quantities, and if you think we should ban something because in concentrate it is toxic, then we need to ban water too. If you think fluoride is a neurotoxin in the levels mandated by the FDA, please prove that.
Its just an odd double standard you have, some chemicals are OK to be added, others are not.
You misundersand. No chemeicals added to water are OK, but chlorine is tolerable considering it saves millions of lives. Everything has a cost to benefit ratio. Adding chlorine to tap water has a huge benefit, fluoride does not.
Fluoride is NOT a neurotoxin in the amounts the found in tap water
How can you know the dose a person gets from a drug added to tap water? The fact is that dosing by tap water is one of the worst drug distribution methods possible.
Everything is toxic in high enough quantities, and if you think we should ban something because in concentrate it is toxic, then we need to ban water too
This is silly and does not relate to my argument.
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WTF? No, you shouldn't want it added randomly to the water. I grew up with well water and my teeth are fine, don't buy into the bullshit.
N=1 case study from a radically biased individual or multiple rigorous studies by people who understand public health. I just don't know what to believe!
I grew up with well water as a child and my baby teeth were wrecked. Adult teeth had fluoride and are fine (for the most part)
So there's an anecdotal experience that counters yours
Oh, great - a "I didn't have that and look at me. I'm fine. You shouldn't have it either." person.
It's a meaningful statement though. Natural drinking water doesn't have flouride added to it, it's inclusion is frankly bizarre, and the idea that human beings think it's good to be added is so Bizzarro World to me.
The claim something is "natural" whatever that means does not make it good or safe. Fluoride in the drinking water tho, has proven to be effective and safe.
What the hell is "natural drinking water?" That's not a thing.
If you mean water from a spring or creek, that's "spring water." If by "natural" you mean untreated, unfiltered, untested, it might be okay but can also kill you depending on bacteria levels, parasites, or other pollutants or contaminates.
Don't drink random water out of the ground.
Natural drinking water doesn’t have flouride added to it
It's present, but the levels vary and may not be sufficient in a given area to help prevent cavities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride
Fluoride is naturally present in groundwater, fresh and saltwater sources, as well as in rainwater, particularly in urban areas.[7] Seawater fluoride levels are usually in the range of 0.86 to 1.4 mg/L, and average 1.1 mg/L[8] (milligrams per litre). For comparison, chloride concentration in seawater is about 19 g/L. The low concentration of fluoride reflects the insolubility of the alkaline earth fluorides, e.g., CaF2.
This has the same kind of vibe as the old people who speak fondly about the good old days back when not even kids had to wear seat belts or be in car seats.
"And I survived!"
you grew up on well water, which is often high in fluoride.
You likely benefited from high fluoride, and just didnt realize it.
Meanwhile, I grew up with fluoride added to the water and only had one maybe two minor cavities by the time I was 25, then moved to a place that has such shitty city water everyone heavily filters it, so even if fluoride is added, the filtering removes most of it, and I have had so many dental problems since, not a single one without at least one filling, and several crowns... So there, my anecdote cancels yours.
Use a fluoridated mouthwash before you brush, and switch to a hydroxapatite toothbrush for 3 months, might be a good experiment