Reviewing the review of the review of the review
Sigh. We’re still doing this?
HHS will review guidance on the addition of fluoride to drinking water
The Department of Health and Human Services is directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make new recommendations on the addition of fluoride to U.S. water sources. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blamed the fluoridation of water for a number of health problems.
The agency is directing the CDC to reconvene an independent panel of 15 health experts to examine the role fluoride plays in water sources and whether it can be detrimental to public health, Kennedy told The Associated Press earlier this week, and NPR has confirmed.
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Kennedy has erroneously called fluoride “an industrial waste” and blamed its addition in drinking water on health issues including arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease. Health experts widely agree that fluoride — a common, naturally occurring mineral — at regulated levels is a major benefit to public health.
It’s General Jack D. Ripper all over again.
But Kennedy will reject its findings if they don’t match his own position, assuming that its members aren’t carefully selected to reach his desired result. Just like Musk was going to “find” trillions of dollars in wasteful spending whether there was or not, Kennedy will “find” fluoride is a health hazard. Anything else would be an embarrassing failure that would bring his competence into question. Can’t have that.
I have a bit of nitpicking to do here – fluoride being a common, naturally occuring mineral has little relevance to it being a major benefit to public health. That’s not to say there’s no point in letting people know that fluoride is not a rare and artificial substance, but inserting it in that sentence strikes me as misleading. It might reassure people who are afraid of “chemicals,” but it will only do so by hinging on their misconceptions.
Purity of Essence. Purity of Essential Bodily Fluids.
Must not put chemicals in our body! Must not put ANY chemicals in our bodies! Only natural stuff…(which is why I disagree at least in part with Mosnae; in reality, it is irrelevant to the discourse among realists. It is considered highly relevant by the denialists, and so it bears repeating).