this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 260 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (24 children)

Toxicologist here. I think that take is dishonest or dumb.

Taking a lethal dose is almost never the concern with any substance in our drinking water.

Hormones, heavy metals, persistent organic chemicals, ammonia are all in our drinking water. But for all of them we can't drink enough water to die from a high dose.

Some of them still have a large effect on our bodies.

It's about the longterm effects. Which we need longterm studies to learn about. That makes them harder to study.

Still doesn't mean flouride does anything bad longerm. But the argument is bad.

[–] [email protected] 112 points 4 days ago (8 children)

Yeah, by this argument lead in the water isn't a concern.

[–] [email protected] 109 points 4 days ago (2 children)

You just made me mad by helping me realize that the Trump bros are going to break water by removing fluoride long before they fix water by removing lead.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

never the concern

It is when you're responding to people who think 5G is turning the frogs gay and activating hidden vaccine microchips.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For what’s it worth, in my country (Netherlands), we don’t add fluoride to our tap water anymore since the early 70s. We just have it in our toothpaste (though you can also get fluoride free toothpaste for those who don’t want it).

Sure there’s still traces of fluoride in our water, as it appears in nature. But it’s not artificially added by our water companies.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Most places that do add it to the water supply match the levels of places where flouride occurs naturally

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 days ago (3 children)

dihydrogen monoxide is also dangerous, we must ban it as well

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah but I read an article on a bullshit website. I think some no name website knows more than a toxicologist

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Why is some dumb scientist expert trying to tell me, a person who pays for an internet connection, what the truth is?

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[–] [email protected] 90 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oh yeah? And what if someone ignores that, simply lies and says it's toxic? I'm convinced!

[–] [email protected] 35 points 4 days ago

And both of these people telling me about fluoride in water are both experts in their field. One an expert toxicologist, and the other an expert liar. Now I don't know what to believe.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 days ago (2 children)

This is a conspiracy by fluoridians.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thats what the fluoridiots say.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 days ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If they remove it from the water, then change the availability to be OTC for multivitamins with fluoride. I want to be able to get it with our having a copay and whatever else the Dr wants to charge .

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

many toothpastes have it, no need to use multivitamins

[–] [email protected] 62 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

The fluoride added to water gets it up to 0.7mg/liter.

That ends up to be 2 or 3 drops in a 55 gallon drums worth of water. Not much.

Fluoride is a natural substance and is found in many areas drinking water already. Many areas in much higher concentrations than 0.7mg/liter, so realistically people all over the world have drank fluoridated water for thousands of years.

You have to well over double the 0.7 before any health issues may appear and the first to appear is at about triple the concentration in kids under 8 years old who drink it for years getting spots on their teeth. The spots are only superficial.

Going into concentrations even higher than that CAN cause health issues when drank for longer periods of time. All of those cases being from naturally occurring fluoride, which actually effects somewhere north of 20% of the world's population.

Which makes the argument that fluoride in our water keeps us passive as being extra stupid, since water sourced around Columbia (the country) is far higher than .07mg/liter and Columbia seems to be caught in violence and turmoil and instability quite a bit over the decades.

*edit: Colombia

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 4 days ago (9 children)

So, once again, DHMO is the chemical we need to fear.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The people who need to hear this sadly would not believe that too much water can kill you even if you showed them someone die from it, I fear. I'd also be shocked if they read "water poisoning" and didn't think of poisoned water.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (9 children)

Back when I was in college, people didn't like fluoride because it calcifies the pinneal gland. I assume that rhetoric has only been further exaggerated over the years

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 days ago (5 children)

It does do this. However so does ageing, low sunlight exposure, low altitude, ethnicity, sex, nutrition, neuro-divergence, cell phone use, EM fields... you get the idea.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Don't forget the gravitational pull of Betelgeuse. In a very, very small way, that also effects calcification of the pineal gland.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 4 days ago (9 children)

It's not about toxicity, it's about mind control! Fluoride makes you passive. But you know this since you're a tool of the government pushing poison.

Just bleach your teeth like normal people! You know, with the bleach under the kitchen sink.

(Don't actually do this)

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 4 days ago

Toxicologist, toxicity, minuscule, fluoridated -- your big doctor words are just trying to trick us!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago

I believe the objection to fluoride is that it is a tranquilizer that keeps us from achieving glory through violent uprising... or sweet sweet dentist profits.

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