4 ms·

Why specifically call out fluoride?

luxuryballs 2y ago
Didn’t studies come out connecting it to lower IQ? Places are pulling it or planning to pull it, nothing to do with RFK.
lolinder 2y ago
It's a bit of a thing with a particular political persuasion in the US right now (RFK Jr has made his anti-fluoride position a big part of his deal for his future role as Secretary of Health and Human Services), and there was a report in the news recently that some see as backing up the claims against fluoride: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-01-06/what-a-new-study-does-and-doesnt-say-about-fluoride-and-its-link-to-iq https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-01-06/what-a-new-... It's not as conclusive a study as some people might claim, though: > For starters, 52 of the 74 studies were judged by the report authors to have a “high risk of bias.” That undermines the validity and reliability of their results. > Another issue is that most of the studies considered fluoride exposures far above the target level for the U.S. ... Only seven of the studies assessed children whose water contained less than 1.5 mg/L of fluoride. When they were considered on their own, there was no relationship between fluoride exposure and IQ.
- kylebenzle 2y ago
  > It's a bit of a thing with a particular political persuasion... That seems dismissive as hell, especially since the US is the odd man out here by choosing to medicate their water supply. You could have simply answered that both fluoride and lead seem to lower IQ so using either as an additive would be questionable.
  - lolinder 2y ago
    > You could have simply answered that both fluoride and lead seem to lower IQ so using either as an additive would be questionable. This would have inaccurately reflected my understanding of the science: the link between fluoride and IQ is far more tenuous than lead at this point. See the study in the link above. > That seems dismissive as hell, especially since the US is the odd man out here by choosing to medicate their water supply. It's not intended to be dismissive, it's the primary reason why someone would have fluoride and IQ on their mind at the moment.
  - maest 2y ago
    > the US is the odd man out here by choosing to medicate their water supply It is not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country
- luxuryballs 2y ago
  nothing to do with RFK or politics, I feel like people are missing the point here though, imagine Rome in 45 BC “why call out lead?” while Roberto F Kenedius has been spreading conspiracies about lead pipes being bad
  - lolinder 2y ago
    Does your point have nothing to do with RFK, or is the point people are missing that RFK has been spreading conspiracy theories that might be real after all? I'm somewhat confused by the seeming contradiction.
    - luxuryballs 2y ago
      nothing to do with RFK I was just piggybacking on the other comment mentioning him to further paint the original picture: history repeating itself, future culture trying to understand past culture by limited speculation, and future culture (being the present culture) that will eventually be the past culture and every present culture tends to think they understand things better than they actually do, so it’s fun to think of us talking about Rome and lead in water, and future culture talking about us and Fluoride in water, regardless of how accurate any of it is or related to “empire collapse”, funny to imagine there was someone back then saying claims about lead being possibly harmful are biased, whatever the personal motive was (ie, not wanting to believe they let their kids drink dangerous lead pipe water so they go out of their way to tell others that claims of lead being suspected to be dangerous are biased, which is itself a bias)
cameronh90 2y ago
It's an international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
- khana 2y ago
  [dead]
luxuryballs 2y ago
“Why specifically call out lead?” -Julius Caesar, 45 BC

Didn’t studies come out connecting it to lower IQ? Places are pulling it or planning to pull it, nothing to do with RFK.

lolinder 2y ago

It's a bit of a thing with a particular political persuasion in the US right now (RFK Jr has made his anti-fluoride position a big part of his deal for his future role as Secretary of Health and Human Services), and there was a report in the news recently that some see as backing up the claims against fluoride: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-01-06/what-a-new-study-does-and-doesnt-say-about-fluoride-and-its-link-to-iq https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-01-06/what-a-new-... It's not as conclusive a study as some people might claim, though: > For starters, 52 of the 74 studies were judged by the report authors to have a “high risk of bias.” That undermines the validity and reliability of their results. > Another issue is that most of the studies considered fluoride exposures far above the target level for the U.S. ... Only seven of the studies assessed children whose water contained less than 1.5 mg/L of fluoride. When they were considered on their own, there was no relationship between fluoride exposure and IQ.

kylebenzle 2y ago
> It's a bit of a thing with a particular political persuasion... That seems dismissive as hell, especially since the US is the odd man out here by choosing to medicate their water supply. You could have simply answered that both fluoride and lead seem to lower IQ so using either as an additive would be questionable.
- lolinder 2y ago
  > You could have simply answered that both fluoride and lead seem to lower IQ so using either as an additive would be questionable. This would have inaccurately reflected my understanding of the science: the link between fluoride and IQ is far more tenuous than lead at this point. See the study in the link above. > That seems dismissive as hell, especially since the US is the odd man out here by choosing to medicate their water supply. It's not intended to be dismissive, it's the primary reason why someone would have fluoride and IQ on their mind at the moment.
- maest 2y ago
  > the US is the odd man out here by choosing to medicate their water supply It is not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country
luxuryballs 2y ago
nothing to do with RFK or politics, I feel like people are missing the point here though, imagine Rome in 45 BC “why call out lead?” while Roberto F Kenedius has been spreading conspiracies about lead pipes being bad
- lolinder 2y ago
  Does your point have nothing to do with RFK, or is the point people are missing that RFK has been spreading conspiracy theories that might be real after all? I'm somewhat confused by the seeming contradiction.
  - luxuryballs 2y ago
    nothing to do with RFK I was just piggybacking on the other comment mentioning him to further paint the original picture: history repeating itself, future culture trying to understand past culture by limited speculation, and future culture (being the present culture) that will eventually be the past culture and every present culture tends to think they understand things better than they actually do, so it’s fun to think of us talking about Rome and lead in water, and future culture talking about us and Fluoride in water, regardless of how accurate any of it is or related to “empire collapse”, funny to imagine there was someone back then saying claims about lead being possibly harmful are biased, whatever the personal motive was (ie, not wanting to believe they let their kids drink dangerous lead pipe water so they go out of their way to tell others that claims of lead being suspected to be dangerous are biased, which is itself a bias)

cameronh90 2y ago

It's an international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

khana 2y ago
[dead]

luxuryballs 2y ago

“Why specifically call out lead?” -Julius Caesar, 45 BC