Up a Tree
The November 22 press conference with Florida’s surgeon general sheds a different light on Angry Poodle Barbecue’s “dumb kid” lament in The Dogfather: “It is public health malpractice, with the information we have now, to continue adding fluoride to water,” Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo said followed by written guidance detailing the latest research showing that exposure to fluoridated water can lead to neurodevelopmental issues in children, including lower IQ.
Unlike William Kennerly, Nick Welsh was spared from swallowing fluoride as a “dumb kid.” William swallowed the fluoride mouth rinse he was given at his first dental cleaning as a three-year-old. His dental hygienist neglected to tell him not swallow the rinse. He died 4.5 hours later. You can read more about it in the New York Times, January 20, 1979.
Regarding Robert Kennedy Jr’s position on water fluoridation, the NIH’s Pub Med Central from February 14, 2014, agrees with him: “This paper reviews the human health effects of fluoride. The authors conclude that available evidence suggests that fluoride has a potential to cause major adverse human health problems, while having only a modest dental caries prevention effect … the practice of artificial water fluoridation should be reconsidered globally … ”
Sounds like you are barking up the wrong tree.
Editor’s Note: With regard the lack of fluoride added to the City of Santa Barbara’s water supply — referred to in last week’s Angry Poodle column — it should be noted the Santa Barbara City Council voted 5-to-2 against adding fluoride to its water supply in 1999. The vote came in response to a state law passed in 1995 requiring cities to add fluoride. The council asserted “the municipal affairs doctrine,” meaning that as a charter city, the state was not authorized to tell City Hall what to do. The council also heard from a large group of activists opposed to fluoridation, citing a host of environmental, health, and civil libertarian concerns. Only a few dental advocates showed up to argue the contrary. One councilmember, swayed by arguments against fluoridation, asked rhetorically whether the city should add Xanax to the water supply in hopes of promoting better mental health. City Hall suffered no adverse consequences for its refusal. But then, fluoride occurs naturally in the city’s water supply.