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So, what's the deal with Fluoride in the water anyway?
According to this tweet by Marc Andreesen, a U.S. government review has concluded that Fluoride in the drinking water lowers IQ's in kids. The literature reviewed suggests that high levels of exposure reduce IQ's by 2 to 5 points.
If so, this would absolutely dominate any conceivable benefit from putting the stuff in the drinking water.
And it also seems largely unnecessary given that fluoridated toothpastes and mouthwash exist. Drinking the stuff is an incredibly poor intervention compared to, you know, actually applying it directly to our teeth.
Assuming Anddreesen's tweet is true (which I assume by default given his status as a top venture fund leader), this is absolutely scandalous.
Water fluoridation is one of those things that always astounds me and reminds me how completely different the past was, politically and in terms of social cohesion and trust in science, experts and all that. The idea that a few scientists could run a few relatively short-term experiments (just a few years) and see a relatively minor benefit (tooth cavities hardly seems like an existential crisis) and based on this get the government to introduce a chemical to the water supply nationwide without facing widespread riots or resistance is just insane to me. I'm not trying to claim that fluoride is harmful or anything like that, just that the public seems to have had such complete trust in politicians, scientists, public health officials, bureaucrats and the media to accept it is an amazing demonstration of how different things are. It is an oft raised lament that "we don't build anything anymore" or that we aren't capable of the large-scale works of the past and I think this is directly related to that. I think there needs to be a certain level of blind trust in authorities to enable that which is a bit of a two edged sword.
It is becoming very hard for me personally to reconcile my lament that "we don't build anything anymore" with my own anti-conformist and stubborn opposition to things like covid lockdowns and covid vaccination as I think they are in direct opposition to some extent. As I've gotten older I have come to believe that public consensus and trust in institutions is more important than the actual content of that consensus or the 'correctness' of those experts and institutions, but at the same time I remain skeptical and stubborn. Does anyone else relate to this conflicted feeling?
Just walking around a seeing the number of old people who don't have any teeth makes me think cavaties are actually a massive problem, still, despite water fluoridation. I'm sure it would be much worse without it.
Old people lose their teeth due to periodontitis, not cavities, usually.
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