Emily Oster

2 min Read Emily Oster

Emily Oster

Are The Concerns About Water Fluoridation Legit?

From FiveThirtyEight: Are The Concerns About Water Fluoridation Legit?

Emily Oster

2 min Read

If you’re anything like me, you have probably given only limited thought to the fluoride in your tap water. You probably have some vague idea that it’s there and that it relates to your dental health. But community water fluoridation is a fairly controversial practice. Some cities (Portland, Oregon, for example) have blocked the introduction of fluoride, and numerous advocacy groups call for its elimination all together.

Those who support water fluoridation — a group that includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatricsand the American Dental Association, among others — say it is a safe, effective way to improve dental health. The CDC even highlights it as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century.

Opponents disagree, to put it mildly. One central objection relates to a general distrust of government and concern about forced “medication” of the population. One does not need to go too far down a list of Google hits on “fluoride in water” to find an article that suggests water fluoridation is a mind control system derived from Nazi research. Needless to say, there is no evidence that fluoride can be used for mind control. (Of course, that is what I would say if I were under mind control, so it’s a difficult case to disprove.)

But the more concrete objections relate to a concern that the benefits of fluoride are not very large given its potential health risks — reductions in IQ and increased risk of cancer, among other things.

Keep reading

Community Guidelines
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Two women stand on a balcony chatting. One is pregnant.

Feb. 27, 2023

6 min Read

Your Best Parenting Advice

ParentData is 3!

A line graph with pink, yellow, and blue dots representing life's ups and downs.

Feb. 21, 2023

3 min Read

Wins, Woes, and Autism

Your stories for the week

Close up of a postpartum belly with baby hands.

Feb. 17, 2023

2 min Read

Should I Try Stomach Binding Postpartum?

Ask ParentData