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Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water

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

#91
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are based on countries with much higher levels of fluoride than the USA adds. Follow up studies have found the levels in the USA to be perfectly safe and in fact beneficial since poor people don't get dental care like they do in other countries.

> levels in the USA to be perfectly safe because everybody drinks the same amount of water right? ridiculous position to argue from.

I think the argument they make is fair. The levels that the US aims to have fluorinated water concentrations. If theres a bad actor county well thats on them not the standard thats set.

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

#92

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.

I've heard this and it doesn't fit in my brain. They never drink water? Ever?

Something like 10% of SNAP benefits go towards purchases of soda pop and other sugary drinks made by PepsiCo/etc.

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

#93
post #36
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utah has among the best schools in the nation: https://www.reddit.com/r/Utah/comments/1idrt6j/utah_spends_t... It also has among the happiest citizens: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/09/09/utah-mental-health-h... It has the highest economic mobility in the country: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammillsap/2023/12/22/utah-top... Despite being filled with guns, it’s got a homicide rate only a little higher than Cana…

Doesn’t that contradict the negative outcome of fluoride in the water?

[deleted]

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

#94

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.

I've heard this and it doesn't fit in my brain. They never drink water? Ever?

Time to buy Brawndo shares

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

#96
post #35
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't they sell toothpaste with flourid in Utah?

Generally kids don't use toothpaste with fluoride because of the risk of swollowing it. Yes, we know it's bad in high doses, which is why kids toothpaste often doesn't have it. You have to wait until they are old enough to spit when brushing. In reality what will happen is that rich kids will be just fine because they will get their fluoride treatments at the dentist every six months. It's the poor kids who will suff…

The recommendation from doctors is to use a small amount of toothpaste with fluoride. Apparently even if they cant spit yet. I was surprised to be told that, even though there are a ton of fluoride free toothpastes available.

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

#97
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is, according to Wikipedia, among a small minority of countries in which a majority of people drink fluoridated water. Various European countries have discontinued doing so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation >

Yeah, this is one of those places where because RFK Jr took the anti- stand there's an understandable assumption that it's more nutty anti-science stuff, but it's much less clear cut when it comes to fluoridation. Europe has much lower rates than the US, which is an outlier on these stats only approached by Australia, and before Utah the major high profile anti-fluoride stance was made by Portland: https://www.wweek.…

Fluoridated water was already a plot point in Kubrick's Strangelove from 1964.

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

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but now it is “overmedicating” a vulnerable fraction of the population. Makes sense, but the intention also is that many people do not brush their teeth, or at least do not brush them as often as they should, and so fluoride is added to drinking water to compensate so people's teeth don't start to fall out at an alarming rate.

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.

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

#99
post #59
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did many European countries discontinue fluoridation? https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/11/23/trump-could-push-... > However, in 1973, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that there was no legal basis for fluoridation…. The debate hasn’t been meaningfully revived since then, Hofman told Euronews Health. "People started to say, ‘Well, the government should not give us some medicine [when] we cannot choose where to bu…

but youre taking chemicals out right? and lots of water has natural flouride? there is definitely an argument for an optimal amount of minerals in water being non zero (not only because having it that clean would be practically expensive) but also because we benefit from natural minerals. now if some natural water source isnt as good as another one, why not correct it? we have the technology. especially at the commun…

    > and lots of water has natural flouride?
100% the treatment plant is adjusting for the natural amount of flouride to meet specific target PPM

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

#100
post #35
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't they sell toothpaste with flourid in Utah?

Generally kids don't use toothpaste with fluoride because of the risk of swollowing it. Yes, we know it's bad in high doses, which is why kids toothpaste often doesn't have it. You have to wait until they are old enough to spit when brushing. In reality what will happen is that rich kids will be just fine because they will get their fluoride treatments at the dentist every six months. It's the poor kids who will suff…

You sound concerned about the kids. We are on the same side. There is evidence that fluoridation level is correlated (dose dependent) with sleep problems, lower IQ scores, early onset puberty and bone cancer in children. There are specific areas outside blood brain barrier that it accumulates to the degree of fluoridation (100x to 200x levels of other tissues), all postmortem tests verify this.

It is true that many studies were at higher doses(2x to 4x), but that should not mean that it is acceptable to intentionally raise fluoride levels to half of harmful levels, because we want to protect teeth.

If you don't want cavities decrease sucrose, brush and floss. Can I brush my teeth with use baking soda, use whatever? Arent they are OUR teeth? What if we find some additive might help some other health issue? Should we add that to everyone's drinking water?

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