Look to Idiocracy for a documentary of what happens if this keeps going unchecked?
You are missing something. If you're this confused about a topic, you should at a bare minimum read the Wikipedia page.
Said another way - brush yo teeth, brush yo GD teeth: https://youtu.be/GlKL_EpnSp8?si=NeKJWKNlcHxtDUYD&t=112
The Wikipedia page you mentioned reading also points out that it's not only a US thing. Or even a water-only thing.
You don't have an argument yourself, you just wanted to share that you are pro some position.
If someone came in with a curious mindset, that'd be one thing. But this is someone walking into a room with an agenda (get rid of fluoride) and a shocking lack of knowledge about that agenda.
But since "Internet People Lie About Fluoride,"[0] why are you surprised? And that's nothing new.
Why? I have no idea. Perhaps cpursley[1] could enlighten us?
Because you're the "Internet people lie about fluoride" guy to a tee.
Have a good day!
It's funny you should mention that because now the Texas AG is staring to come after fluoridated toothpastes.
Also, we don't have anywhere close to the sugar consumption the US has, which keeps both our diabetes and dental health issues at rates far below the US.
So rather than have them suffer with a lifetime of oral health problems, you can intervene in a transparent and cheap way to prevent these issues altogether.
The introduction of fluoride dramatically improved oral health. NYC has been doing it since the 1960s, so one would think we’d see evidence of the supposed negative effects.
And by your metric, should we also pump in vitamins and other substances that our bodies crave? Maybe the Fed gov't could just skip that and force drip IV everyone a compliance cocktail after their breakfast of USDA approved and SNAP subsidized Captain Crunch?
Something like 30% of people report not brushing their teeth at least once a day. Unclear if that means most of them brush every other day or some even lower frequency, but I’d assume if you report not brushing at least once a day then you likely aren’t brushing consistently every other day or something.
> And by your metric, should we also pump in vitamins and other substances that our bodies crave? Maybe the Fed gov't could just skip that and force drip IV everyone a compliance cocktail after their breakfast of USDA approved and SNAP subsidized Captain Crunch?
We already do this, all the time! Vitamin and mineral fortified foods are everywhere. Iodine is in a lot of salt. It’s a good thing, not something to be mocked. Most vitamins and minerals have minimal cost, no issues with taking “too much” of them, and have significant health benefits if you are deficit on that particular thing.
Gross, but that's their problem, not mine. There's a multitude of bad health habits, if we were actually serious, there'd be no soda or cereal on the shelves. But big ag and big health activity oppose that because they financially benefit from SNAP. Your fortified foods mention is an example of exactly how insane it all is (we subsidize the corn syrup farmers to produce garbage food and then give poor people money to buy it, instead of you know - real food).
This absolutist mindset is not helpful for making progress. People want tasty, potentially bad for them foods. You can have bad food that’s made up of “real food” just fine. Fortifying bad foods to make them marginally less bad is a good thing. Don’t let great be the enemy of good. Nobody is looking at a bag of chips and saying “well because it’s got added Vitamin A, it’s good for me now!” Instead, it’s just a silent benefit.
Again, you’re asking for behavioral change in humans by fiat. Fortification extends well beyond just adding vitamins to chips or junk food. It’s added in many basic building blocks (milk, and most flours and rice) because it literally is solving nutritional deficiencies caused by poverty. Nobody is somehow making purchasing decisions on junk food based on fortification content.
> Get the shit like food coloring and corn syrup out of our food.
Irrelevant to nutritional content, unless you mean overly sugary foods relating to corn syrup. Which, you can have the exact same health outcomes and hyper palatability by just using regular old sugar.
> Other nations do just fine with their food situation without all this made up nonsense and excuses like "fortified" food.
Other nations fortify their food too, including many “first world” countries. I don’t know why you think this is somehow a uniquely American thing.
They absolutely are. Food marketing and other tricks work, even on edjamahcated people. Think terms like “150% more antioxidants” and “100% natural fruit gummies!”
google is free - it's not anyone's responsibility to educate you and answer your naive questions. and if did google and you're still not convinced, well then i'm glad you're not an elected official wherever it is you live (though if you live in the US i guess you probably voted for the current admin)
You’re looking for facts to stuff a straw man. There is clear, obvious correlation between fluoridation and improved oral health. They discovered this decades ago where it was observed that oral health was better in regions where groundwater was used and fluoride occurred naturally.
By my metric, we should take reasonable measures to improve public health. I don’t suppose you’re in favor of making dental care affordable to those who can’t afford it?
If you choose to align yourself with the pseudo intellectual descendants of the John Birch society to protect your “precious bodily fluids”, I’m sorry for you.
Not once have I argued against fluoride for oral care. But I don't want it in my DRINKING water.
> We add vitamin A & D to milk and bread.
Right, and our (American) "bread" and milk is not just bad, it's total garbage. I mean really really bad vs civilized countries.
Here's another solution: Just eat real food and brush your teeth with proper toothpaste. I know, shocking!
What’s your answer when the same idiots campaigning against fluoride decide that toothpaste is a problem? Or that the ADA is a scam and there is no proof that toothbrushing has any effect?
And what’s real food? That is a question that doesn’t have an answer.
Their teeth will rot out.
> And what’s real food? That is a question that doesn’t have an answer.
It's not fortified Captain Crunch.
Actually, ironically, you end up being wrong here, though in less of an Idiocracy way and more of a Orwellian "news propaganda machine tricked you" way.
I mean:
Next up is propaganda and filling Americans' minds with only what he wants you to know
No. "Propaganda and filling Americans' minds with only what he wants you to know" is what happened first using the internet to radicalize those without the wisdom to have seen this outcome.
And Idiocracy may not be so much an optimistic look at our future as the conservatives continue to implement their policies, as it is a cynical look at the results that conservatives implementing their policies have had on our present.
And things can get so much worse.
I can't believe these words have been said on HN.
I kinda see how you got there, but man.
This is the same guy behind Office Space and Bevis and Butthead. He's poking fun at out of touch intellectuals and consumption. Calling it pro-eugenics though...