this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
491 points (95.4% liked)

politics

19120 readers
1969 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 week ago (4 children)

How are people this stupid?something in the water?

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago

Don't forget pesticide exposure which eventually has similar effects to lead over time: decreased intelligence and increased aggression

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Some 'murican cities are unironically trying to get rid of fluoride from water. You know, the thing that also goes in toothpaste and is overall good for keeping teeth healthy

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

RFK Jr, who is likely to be our new head of health and human services, wants to ban it nationally.

[–] wildbus8979 -2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Unfortunately RFK isn't all wrong on this one. Recent evidence is showing it is indeed linked to neurological issues... Furthermore the effects are kind of negated by fluoride in the toothpaste.

https://keck.usc.edu/news/fluoride-exposure-during-pregnancy-linked-to-increased-risk-of-childhood-neurobehavioral-problems-study-finds/

The long-awaited report released Wednesday comes from the National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It summarizes [...] that drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is consistently associated with lower IQs in kids.

[...]

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water, and for five decades before the recommended upper range was 1.2. The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5.

https://apnews.com/article/fluoride-water-brain-neurology-iq-0a671d2de3b386947e2bd5a661f437a5

These margins are razor thin.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/still-need-fluoride-drinking-water-benefits-may-waning-study-suggests-rcna173790

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Respectfully, I'm going to be immediately suspicious of any study that uses IQ as the measuring standard. IQ is not an objective measure of intelligence or cognitive ability. The same person taking the test will probably have a different score every time they take it. I'm not saying fluoride does or does not have an effect on cognitive ability or intelligence. But IQ is hardly going to be the way to figure that out.

Edit: I also don't know how you'd conclude it's fluoride and not literally anything else they're consuming.

[–] wildbus8979 -3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Respectfully, maybe read the two linked studies then.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You only linked one? The other is referenced in an article. The way these studies were conducted and the populations used does not immediately translate to fluoride being the issue since that wasn't the only variable. It's worth exploring, but it's really not enough to change decades of dental hygiene improvements.

[–] wildbus8979 1 points 1 week ago

The ap article links another.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The researchers analyzed 229 mother-child pairs, calculating fluoride exposure from urine samples collected during the third trimester of pregnancy. Most urine samples were collected from fasting women, which improves the accuracy of chemical testing. Children were then assessed at age three using the Preschool Child Behavior Checklist, which uses parent reports to measure a child’s social and emotional functioning.

Children exposed to an additional 0.68 milligrams per liter of fluoride in the womb were 1.83 times more likely to show behavioral problems considered to be clinically significant or borderline clinically significant. Specifically, children exposed to more fluoride had more problems with emotional reactivity, somatic complaints (such as headaches and stomachaches), anxiety and symptoms linked to autism.

No association was found with several other neurobehavioral symptoms, including “externalizing behaviors” such as aggression and attention problems.

Hmm, they are using a statistic as their study and parental reporting… what with PFOAs, pthalates, microplastics and parabens already present in water linked as endocrine disrupters I wonder how that plays over top of all of this fluoride as well.

[–] wildbus8979 1 points 1 week ago

Meta analysis are not uncommon.

No association was found with several other neurobehavioral symptoms

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You're not swallowing toothpaste. I don't know enough about the effects of fluoride to agree or disagree with the removal. Being a guy with healthy teeth, a ...few years under his belt and living on well water for damn near all of them, I'm pretty comfortable saying leave it in the toothpaste where it'll have fewer unintended consequences

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

It has been proven in repeated studies that fluoride in the water helps prevent tooth issues for children in low income families.

There is much less fluoride in water than in toothpaste, so the swallowing comparison is a little bit extra.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don't know enough about the effects of fluoride to agree or disagree with the removal

Then why even comment on it? You realize that there are people who do know a lot about this stuff. Like they've dedicated their lives to studying it. And I imagine you could even find their published research online. You know, like actual science? Do you remember how the scientific method works?

But nah, instead you'll just make an unwarrantedly confident comment about something you know nothing about based on "vibes"

Just like American voters.

[–] eletes 11 points 1 week ago

Years of GOP meddling with education, which is only gonna nose dive when dept of education gets dismantled