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Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

bbc.com

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Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#211

Post by freehorse »

nozzlegear wrote: post #185
ews wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US rarely looks into how other countries solve problems. (i.e. Universal Healthcare, High Speed Trains and so), this is the sad part of "American Exceptionalism"

A less cynical framing is that the US is a much different culture from European countries, and is massively larger in scale. Depending on the problem, some of their solutions simply can't or don't apply.

Which part here exactly cannot work in the US? I am talking about brushing one's teeth with toothpaste containing fluoride, which sounds as plain simple as possible to me. Is it regular brushing teeth that fails in the US for cultural reasons? Fluoride in the toothpaste? Supervising kids while brushing their teeth to make sure they do not swallow? It is an honest question.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#213

Post by jorvi »

mjevans wrote: post #98
apothegm wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, an alarming percentage of Americans don't drink water. I’ve spoken to way too many people who think water tastes wrong because it’s not sweet enough.

Particularly when traveling, I don't enjoy the taste of tap water. Filtered or (factory filtered then) bottled... and I'm not alone in that viewpoint.

Probably because the overwhelming majority of countries chlorinates their water to various degrees because they don't have the exceptional plumbing quality needed to otherwise guarantee potability.

Countries where the tap water is drinkable without chlorination have quality that exceeds bottled water, and it might even be sourced from the same aquifers.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#214

Post by driverdan »

adrr wrote: post #154

Utah has naturally occurring fluoride in their water and some water systems its more than double(2.0mg/l) what they add to prevent dental issues. Why were they fluorinating their water? https://cascadefamily.com/images/WaterFluoridationLevelsUtah...

That's not how it works. There is an ideal amount of fluoride. If the natural amount is lower more is added. If it's higher the extra is removed.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#215

Post by jimt1234 »

ews wrote: post #173
freehorse wrote: post #123

This is one of these US-specific polarised debates I find really bizarre, around some kind of issue that the rest of the world has by large solved but without any acknowledgement of this fact. Maybe the US should look into how other countries have solved it? It is completely bizarre witnessing both sides getting so polarised around a basically non-issue.

The US rarely looks into how other countries solve problems. (i.e. Universal Healthcare, High Speed Trains and so), this is the sad part of "American Exceptionalism"

When I was a kid the schools taught us the metric system, telling us it was the world standard, and would become the standard is the US by the time I was an adult. That was over 40 years ago. And that pretty much sums it all up.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#216

Post by alabastervlog »

ourmandave wrote: post #125

Does filtering your water with a whole house filter take the fluoride out? Because I live in a small township that delivers well water to you tap. It tastes horrible, shortens the life of pipes and appliances, and smells like sulfur. Every year they mail a flyer that explains how the lead levels are dangerously above the national standard and you should run the tap before you drink from it. Like, sorry there's nothin…

> Because I live in a small township that delivers well water to you tap. It tastes horrible, shortens the life of pipes and appliances, and smells like sulfur.

Oh man, I used to live in a place like this. You could smell if a restaurant served filtered water (lots filter for the soda machine, to keep mineralization in it down I assume, and use the same water to serve) or straight from the tap, without taking a drink. Like with your nose six inches above the cup, you could smell it. Luckily, almost all served filtered.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#217

Post by rafabulsing »

nozzlegear wrote: post #185
ews wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US rarely looks into how other countries solve problems. (i.e. Universal Healthcare, High Speed Trains and so), this is the sad part of "American Exceptionalism"

A less cynical framing is that the US is a much different culture from European countries, and is massively larger in scale. Depending on the problem, some of their solutions simply can't or don't apply.

The scale argument is thrown around a lot as a justification for why the US couldn't possibly implement universal healthcare. The elephant in the room that I'm always surprises at how rarely it's mentioned in these discussions is Brazil, which is a huge country of comparable size (both territory and population wise), and it manages to make UHC work even though it's also a much poorer country.

It's not perfect by any means, but it's definitely much better than nothing. So the US should absolutely be able to at the very least match that, but really most likely it should be able to do much better. That it doesn't is very much a choice.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#218

Post by timewizard »

gazook89 wrote: post #169
efitz wrote: post #164

It is trivial today to get whatever level of fluoride is recommended for dental health, via toothpaste. So there is no compelling need to fluoridate as there exist viable alternatives to achieve the same that fluoridation is for any other purpose than dental health. In the USA, dental care is not covered by public insurance, and is an optional add-on to insurance through one’s employer. So without addressing at all w…

> via toothpaste. I wonder how many people really brush their teeth on a regular basis. > either campaign to change it or vote with your feet. I imagine that campaigning to change it requires notifying people there is a problem, and getting it into the news and spreading that news.

> I wonder how many people really brush their teeth on a regular basis.

Whatever the number is it's not appropriate for the state to medically intervene on their behalf.

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#219

Post by freehorse »

amazingamazing wrote: post #128
crazygringo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? There's literally tons of evidence. Do you think fluoride doesn't actually reduce cavities?

[flagged]

It increases fluoride content in the saliva

Re: Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

#220

Post by loktarogar »

Jimmc414 wrote: post #103
culi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IQ link is very heavily lacking in evidence. In the actual research the main "risk" posed by flouridated water is actually fluorosis. This causes minerals in your enamel to be replaced with flouride which can cause them to be brittle in the long term. It's pretty uncommon but the thought is that now that flouride toothpaste are commonplace, the benefit of flouridated water is also way less. Which changes the calc…

[flagged]

The people of Flint, MI were (and some still are!) forced to drink bottled water for years when their water was contaminated with lead.

When you drink from publicly supplied water, you accept risks that can be much worse than fluoride in your water. If you want to avoid that, you need to procure your own drinking water.

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