Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#2Seems more like professional-grade trolling than a serious suggestion.
Still, on the offchance they do start doing it, I'll be first in line for rainwater tanks, so I can protect the purity of my precious bodily fluids.
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#3This certainly does seem like a step above anything that's been done before. Fluoride is intended to be basically inert as far as ingestion goes--- its purpose is to improve tooth strength, but not to have any medically noticeable internal effects when the water's drunk. Adding a substance that is medically active when internally ingested as a default drinking-water option would be quite a step. At the very least, we might want to get a lot better handle on what the possible downsides are. There are these studies showing a good preventative association with suicides, but does increasing lithium intake do anything negative? It would be surprising if it had no possible negative effects, so the question is more what they are and how likely/serious they are.
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#4I must admit, I railed against adding Flouride for many years, mostly from a liberty / choice perspective, before finally accepting almost a century of scientific evidence and becoming a supporter. I need to know more about the science, both positive and negative effects, before doing the same here, but it is a nifty precendent.
As with fluoride, I wouldn't want my community to be the first to test it - perhaps if I can convince my neighbours to support a local nuclear power plant we would be spared being guinea pigs on the lithium issue.
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#5Serenity?
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#6Maybe they should check, or already have, if small doses of lithium make citizens more compliant and less critical of authority, especially with increasing the dosage of lithium in the water :)
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#7"One person's right to drink lithium-free water is no greater than another's right to drink lithium-enhanced water."
Um... If you feel this strongly about it, then go put lithium in your water. Don't make me buy bottled water. I've been on lithium before. I'd prefer to spend the rest of my life as far away from ingesting it as possible.
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#8Serenity?
More like Equilibrium, given the effects of lithium. Of course, we are talking about really small doses.
It does beg the question though. If small doses are effective, why do people only get prescribed massively higher doses?
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#9Seems more like professional-grade trolling than a serious suggestion. Still, on the offchance they do start doing it, I'll be first in line for rainwater tanks, so I can protect the purity of my precious bodily fluids.
Your precious bodily fluids are about as impure as it gets. I mean, dude- what other aqueous solution can you think of that's 80% water and can stand on it's own like a pair of month-old socks?
Re: Bioethicist proposes adding lithium to US drinking water
#10Ever see the movie 'Equilibrium'..? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_%28film%29
I think we need to make changes to how we live our lives before we resort to using drugs if we can avoid it. What's next? Dieting drugs in our water?