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Feds Say It's Time To Cut Back On Fluoride In Drinking Water
An anonymous reader writes: Federal health officials Monday changed the recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water for the first time since 1962, cutting by almost half the maximum amount of fluoride that should be added to drinking supplies. The Department of Health and Human Services recommended 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water instead of the long-standing range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams. The change is recommended because now Americans have access to more sources of fluoride, such as toothpaste and mouth rinses, than they did when fluoridation was first introduced in the United States,' Dr. Boris Lushniak, the deputy surgeon general, told reporters during a conference call.
Europe banned Fluoride in drinking water since at least the 1980's.
And all their teeth fell out! ;) Just kidding, they got refrigeration too.
The biggest risk is that fluoride is not fluoride. Sodium fluoride dissociates well, but most water supplies use silicofluorides that don't, and they cause heavy metals to cross the blood-brain barrier because the silicofluoride compounds interact biologically.
The dominant fluoridation chemical is actually toxic waste from fertilizer plant smokestack scrubbers that would have a real disposal problem if there weren't municipal water supplies to dump it in.
And those problems don't even touch on osteoporosis, the economic problems with watering one's lawn with fluoridated water, or the moral issue of involuntary medication.
I've got cavity-free kids on well water. Toothpaste with xylitol (birch/watermelon sugar alcohol) is the simple answer. In Scandinavia they give the kids a couple pieces of xylitol gum with their school lunch - far more economical than the US system and with fewer risks. But in the US, government programs are a secular religion that may only ever be tweaked, not found to be foolhardy.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Britain has better dental health than the USA. But keep peddling that century old myth if it makes you feel better.
My wife is American and finds this particularly funny. When she came to the UK she had a lot of treatment that she could not have afforded in the USA, and our daughter has orthodontic treatment without charge - and some of her relatives who have had teeth removed because they could not afford treatment still make jokes about British teeth
"Out of a population of about three-fourths of a billion, under 14 million people in Europe receive artificially-fluoridated water."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoridation_by_country
You might ask yourself why you've embraced a myth.
Here in the USA Dental health is looked at as a luxury. Dentists fight like hell to keep costs high and insurance crappy.
It's a crime that most americans have almost no dental care they can afford. Yes most. you have to count the 90% that make less than $65,000 a year.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The reason that Americans say Brits have bad teeth is because of whiteness and straightness, neither of which has much to do with number of cavities. There, the mystery is solved. Also, there's the distinct possibility that Brits today care more about their dental health because it was so shitty, either in aesthetics or health, for so long.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
and our daughter has orthodontic treatment without charge
I have to be "that guy". You were charged - and quite a bit for it, they just didn't hand you a bill after you received the service. When you factor in all taxes (VAT, fuel tax, TV tax, income tax, NHS tax, etc) even the lowest tax bracket in the UK is paying roughly 50% of their income in taxes.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
Funny, medical experts disagree with you. So please post your training so we can compare it with that of the deputy Surgeon General.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
My point was to show there are many options between "everything" and "nothing" provided by the state. I don't really care to discuss it further.
(PS "counselling" is correct English.)
Utter bullshit. US spends more taxpayer money per capita on healthcare than any other nation. So clearly US could afford the same kind of healthcare system, it's only a matter of political will. National health care (single payer) systems are *cheaper* than what the US does because there's less organizational overhead and corruption. The existing US Medicare system is a hugely successful example of this, providing good health care with minimal overhead/waste in comparison to the "private" sector. If it was extended to cover everybody, we would spend less taxpayer money on healthcare and have a healthier, more productive population. But there are too many people making a good living saying "OMG Teh Communists!" on television for this to ever happen.