blivet radio
The Radio weblog of Hal Rager

Sunday, May 26, 2002

Is Fluoridated Water a Culprit in Behavior Problems? A Dartmouth professor, as well as many others, believes that fluoridated water in the United States is a culprit in the increasing cases of ADD/ADHD, Alzheimer's, and other adverse health and behavioral effects. [kuro5hin.org] The issue of 'fluoridated water causes X' keeps coming up, it doesn't seem to go away. The Las Vegas area could serve as a good control group for a historical study since the municipal water was not fluoridated until a year and a half ago. But why is fluoridation often mentioned and not industrial runoff in the water, hormone residues in commercial meat, pesticides, heavy hydrocarbons and metals, vehicle emissions, etc. It is my impression (which is to say this is a data-free IMNSHO statement, I'm shooting from the hip with no numbers to back me up) that 'fluoridation' may be a proxy for other issues couched in the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists and other groups that are a couple of standard deviations away from the center of the bell curve. Until there are some studies that correlate with each other, this stays in the same bin as 'scientific creationism.' Excuse me, I meant to say 'intelligent design.' 8:30:14 AM    comment   trackback []

Westheimer's Discovery. "A coupla months in the laboratory can save a coupla hours in the library." [Quotes of the Day] 7:47:55 AM    comment   trackback []