Florida Just Banned Fluoride from Public Water | Hacker News Reader

Florida Just Banned Fluoride from Public Water

nytimes.com

31 pointsripe20 comments

Not sure what to think about this, but often (as in the linked discussion) it always starts out with the very fair "everyone should get to choose, you can use supplements", and then they start banning supplements:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/13/health/fluoride-supplement-ba...

Which makes me just feel like these debates are always hard to have anymore because you never know what debate you're having.

What they need to do is gather statistics on dental health. It could take a decade or two, and ideally they've been recording the statistics for a good decade beforehand, for comparison.

But I doubt those making the rules care much for actual data, and only care about the result that makes them feel better about themselves.

This already happened long ago. It was proven to be a net win. It's just that red scared generals and brain worm officials are concerned about their precious bodily fluids, which is why they take their kids to play in polluted creeks.

It sounds like you do know what to think, that they don't argue in good faith. Not everything is more complicated than it looks.

Discussion (43 points, 15 days ago, 117 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43843547

Sure this is bad but what about states where they don't have universal free dental care with bi-yearly topical fluoride?

I hear there are quite a few leopards in those states.

There is fluoride in tooth paste nowadays.

Adding it to the water is a kinda strange and weak way to try to improve dental health. And gives some people dental fluorosis.

For the moment:

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-...

It is interesting how questions like these evolve into some identity politics thing in the US.

Don’t think a lot of people are brushing their pet’s teeth. Fluoridated water benefits more than just humans.

FDA moves to ban fluoride supplements for kids, removing a key tool for dentists

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43980526

Curious where they draw the line - are chlorine treatments to disinfect water okay? Both have a clear public health benefit with comparatively minimal downsides.

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