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As bans spread, fluoride in drinking water divides communities across the US (kffhealthnews.org)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

371 comments fedilink hide all child comments

…

It is a scenario playing out nationwide. From Oregon to Pennsylvania, hundreds of communities have in recent years either stopped adding fluoride to their water supplies or voted to prevent its addition. Supporters of such bans argue that people should be given the freedom of choice. The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing the mineral makes it no longer necessary to add to public water supplies, they say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that while store-bought products reduce tooth decay, the greatest protection comes when they are used in combination with water fluoridation.

The outcome of an ongoing federal case in California could force the Environmental Protection Agency to create a rule regulating or banning the use of fluoride in drinking water nationwide. In the meantime, the trend is raising alarm bells for public health researchers who worry that, much like vaccines, fluoride may have become a victim of its own success.

The CDC maintains that community water fluoridation is not only safe and effective but also yields significant cost savings in dental treatment. Public health officials say removing fluoride could be particularly harmful to low-income families — for whom drinking water may be the only source of preventive dental care.

“If you have to go out and get care on your own, it’s a whole different ballgame,” said Myron Allukian Jr., a dentist and past president of the American Public Health Association. Millions of people have lived with fluoridated water for years, “and we’ve had no major health problems,” he said. “It’s much easier to prevent a disease than to treat it.”

According to the anti-fluoride group Fluoride Action Network, since 2010, over 240 communities around the world have removed fluoride from their drinking water or decided not to add it.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Supporters of such bans argue that people should be given the freedom of choice.

I truly do not mean to belittle anyone who holds this opinion, but isn't this such a minor thing to be worried so much about, to try to prevent?

I just mean there seems to be like a hundred other things that would be more important to discuss before we get to fluoride in the water.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No one is forcing them to drink tap water with fluoride in it. They can buy purified water if they're that afraid of it.

I bet the same people that are worried about fluoride have never had their tap water actually tested to see what their pipes might be leeching.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They can buy purified water if they’re that afraid of it.

Or get various devices to remove it.

A water distiller is the big hammer, will take everything out.

https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Water-Distilling-Distillation-Countertop/dp/B0CSFQZ89V/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

I believe the primary market for these devices is small-scale production of moonshine.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

People don't trust "the government" to add a chemical they don't understand to their water.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

People don’t trust “the government” to add a chemical they don’t understand to their water.

You're not saying anything new to me.

My point is that this is such an old discussion to be rehashing again, and even if there's validity to the point to discuss, if you triage everything that's going wrong these days, I would say fluoride in the water is so low on the triage list.

In other words, my question was not if it's a real issue or not, but prioritizing the issue high by bringing it up again and again, throughout the decades. More important things to worry about, basically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Agreed, it's pretty frustrating. Improved education and increased trust in governments (at least local) seem like obvious but difficult solutions.