355
submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.

The culture wars have a new target: your teeth. 

Communities across the U.S. are ending public water fluoridation programs, often spurred by groups that insist that people should decide whether they want the mineral — long proven to fight cavities — added to their water supplies. 

The push to flush it from water systems seems to be increasingly fueled by pandemic-related mistrust of government oversteps and misleading claims, experts say, that fluoride is harmful.

The anti-fluoridation movement gained steam with Covid,” said Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Union County, North Carolina. “We’ve seen an increase of people who either don’t want fluoride or are skeptical about it.”

There should be no question about the dental benefits of fluoride, Lochary and other experts say. Major public health groups, including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support the use of fluoridated water. All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 49 points 7 months ago

You do have the option to choose for yourself.

You can not only choose to filter it out, you can choose which filter you want to purchase from a selection. Here you go. https://apexwaterfilters.com/blogs/top-5-water-filters-to-remove-fluoride-from-water/

[-] john89@lemmy.ca 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Right.

Let’s put any amount of contaminates in our drinking water just so people can “filter them out.”

Someone mentioned arsenic earlier in this thread, and I think I can find some study that says arsenic is good for you. Let's add it to our water and anyone who thinks it's harmful can just filter it out.

Also, I'm adding my fecal matter to the water supply to improve people's microbiomes. They can just filter it out if they don't like it.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 51 points 7 months ago

Fluoride is not a contaminant, but please do find a study that says arsenic is good for you. This should be interesting.

[-] john89@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 months ago

Fluoride is not a contaminant

Says who?

https://gizmodo.com/hey-remember-when-people-used-to-eat-arsenic-as-a-heal-1676316276

It's not a study, but there was a time when people believed arsenic wasn't poisonous. There were most likely scientists back in the day advocating for its usage. You can find their work if you're really interested.

A more recent and easier to research example would be all the "studies" saying lead is safe. Do I have to specifically point to those, or can you understand my point without it?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 42 points 7 months ago

It’s not a study

Okay, so note what you claimed.

There were most likely scientists back in the day advocating for its usage. You can find their work if you’re really interested.

It's not my job to prove you aren't lying.

[-] john89@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 months ago

I mean, if you don't want to understand then you won't understand.

I've done my part. If you want to replace arsenic with lead, then will it make sense?

Probably not because you don't want to understand.

Also,

Fluoride is not a contaminant

Says who?

You conveniently ignored this part.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 24 points 7 months ago

If you want to replace arsenic with lead, then will it make sense?

Sure, if you can show me a scientific study that claims that lead is not a contaminant.

You conveniently ignored this part.

Correct. I will continue to until you show me the scientific studies you claim exists or admit you made them up.

[-] OrgunDonor@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Ohhh can I partake in this.

Fluoride contamination, consequences and removal techniques in water - https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2022/va/d1va00039j

See look at the scary headline, and the first sentence - "Fluoride contamination has created a drinking water crisis globally."

Only downside to this paper... it kinda mentions how great it is for humans to consume low levels of flouride.

[-] bolexforsoup 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)
this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
355 points (100.0% liked)

News

23634 readers
3001 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS