Fluoridation of Our Drinking Water

Today's news mentions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that the level of fluoridation of our drinking water be reduced.

I remember when fluoridation was still pretty new and it was not without controversy. Since the chemical element fluorine is poisonous (in sufficient quantities), some people claimed that fluoridation was a Communist plot to poison America. In all the years since—some 60 or more years—it has proved itself one of the major triumphs of public health policy and has reduced tooth decay.

However, nowadays almost everyone uses toothpaste that contains fluoride, so our tooth enamel may be being exposed to more fluoridation than is needed to minimize tooth decay. This causes mottling of teeth, or even more harm to teeth than just a cosmetic effect, specifically a weakening of the tooth. (These effects have long been known to occur in areas where drinking water naturally contains high levels of fluoride, more than is artificially added to water in those places where it is not naturally occurring.)

Still, I expect all the anti-fluoridation crackpots, who have been maintaining a low profile for 60 years, to come out of the woodwork now and use HHS's new guidelines for a lower level of fluoridation as proof that they were right all along, that fluoridation is a bad thing.

Maybe this should be perceived along with the idea that vaccines cause autism in children—an idea now shown to be without basis since, as reported in the U.K., the research on which the association between vaccination and autism was based is now shown to have been basically fraudulent, with forged research data.

But, as has been shown, Americans have a particular propensity to believe in conspiracies. So those who believe fluoridation was a conspiracy, way back when; those who think that vaccine makers, public health officials, etc., who urge vaccination upon parents, are somehow malicious and have been ignoring the harm that vaccination does—all these types, who have made up their minds, will not change their minds easily. Their motto is, "Don't confuse me with the facts."

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein