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mahatmakanejeeves

(62,014 posts)
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:14 PM Nov 22

Florida surgeon general calls for halting fluoride in water, echoing RFK Jr.

Source: Washington Post

Florida surgeon general calls for halting fluoride in water, echoing RFK Jr.

The state’s top health official cited controversial studies that suggest the widely hailed public health practice poses a risk to developing brains.


Florida surgeon general Joseph A. Ladapo is recommending fluoride be removed from the state's water. (Chris O'Meara/AP)

By Fenit Nirappil and Dan Diamond
Updated November 22, 2024 at 4:15 p.m. EST | Published November 22, 2024 at 4:11 p.m. EST

The top health official of the nation’s third-largest state called Friday for a halt to adding fluoride to Florida’s water, citing controversial studies that suggest the widely hailed public health practice poses a risk to developing brains.

Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo issued a recommendation citing “the neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure, particularly in pregnant women and children,” and noting the availability of alternative sources of fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwash.

“It is clear more research is necessary to address safety and efficacy concerns regarding community water fluoridation,” Ladapo said in a statement. “The previously considered benefit of community water fluoridation does not outweigh the current known risks, especially for special populations like pregnant women and children.”

Ladapo’s announcement comes three weeks after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Trump administration plans to issue a similar recommendation nationwide next year. Kennedy’s remarks drew rebukes from public health experts who say that the practice has helped protect Americans’ teeth, particularly in vulnerable communities where children might not regularly brush their teeth.

{snip}

By Fenit Nirappil
Fenit Nirappil is a reporter for the Health & Science team who covers public health, infectious diseases and LGBTQ issues. He previously covered local politics. follow on X @FenitN

By Dan Diamond
Dan Diamond is a national health reporter for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2021 after five years at Politico, where he won a George Polk award for investigating the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic.follow on X @ddiamond

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/11/22/florida-fluoride-water-rfk-jr-surgeon-general/

37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Florida surgeon general calls for halting fluoride in water, echoing RFK Jr. (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Nov 22 OP
Let Florida be the testbed kacekwl Nov 22 #1
Absolutely. Let them see all their kids' teeth fall out by age 30 Bluetus Nov 23 #26
Lordy, wait till the kids there grow brown teeth and weak bones. Oh well. flying_wahini Nov 22 #2
I grew up on a farm.... WomanWhoRoars Nov 22 #3
My brother and I also took those pills when we were little. We lived on the side of a mountain and also had well water Rhiannon12866 Nov 22 #17
Same here except we didn't have the pills. travelingthrulife Nov 23 #32
Of course. elleng Nov 22 #4
This guy is really dangerous. travelingthrulife Nov 23 #33
neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure, elleng Nov 22 #5
Science, schmience--who needs fact-based, well-researched, verified by experts in their field knowledgey-informationy Timeflyer Nov 22 #6
Did this idiot drink water when he was out in California.............did someone ask him that simple question.......... turbinetree Nov 22 #7
Ladapo is a neuropsychiatric risk, fluoride or no fluoride jmowreader Nov 23 #30
I get my water from a well , but the dentist puts fluoride Linda ladeewolf Nov 22 #8
Has Orange Julius Caesar announced an appointment for a new US surgeon general? generalbetrayus Nov 22 #9
This idiot is a quack LetMyPeopleVote Nov 22 #10
Florida - you do you JustAnotherGen Nov 22 #11
That state is completely and utterly ruled by ideologues who literally don't care what the fuck happens to them. Karasu Nov 22 #12
Ladopo will be recommending Leeches tonekat Nov 22 #13
For reestablishing blood flow leeches are very good medicine jmowreader Nov 23 #31
Stupid fucking idiocracy. Dog help these people. Evolve Dammit Nov 22 #14
Community water fluoridation is one of the greatest public health achievements of all time IronLionZion Nov 22 #15
Can Florida get any more fucked up? paleotn Nov 22 #16
Is this the same irresponsible jerk who refused to take the pandemic seriously and put citizens in danger from that?? Rhiannon12866 Nov 22 #18
Same. nt moniss Nov 23 #21
Good Grief! How many Covid deaths was he responsible for?? Rhiannon12866 Nov 23 #22
The sad thing also is moniss Nov 23 #24
I certainly agree, but then we have yet to see TFG held responsible for anything. I really don't get it. Rhiannon12866 Nov 23 #25
Gen. Ripper would be so-o happy! tclambert Nov 22 #19
Meanwhile butt kissers like this will moniss Nov 23 #20
We don't have fluoride in our province. EllieBC Nov 23 #23
Honestly if these idiots want to take themselves out of the gene pool at this point... Initech Nov 23 #27
Many of my fellow oldsters John Shaft Nov 23 #28
This is all l'orange will be remembered for. truthisfreedom Nov 23 #29
White folks voted for this shit Blue_Tires Nov 23 #34
Meet Joseph Ladapo. mahatmakanejeeves Nov 23 #35
I know who he is, a lackey for DeSantis Blue_Tires Nov 23 #36
So Donald Trump wants to take out fluoride in water, Question About the Water Pipe integrity Oneear Nov 23 #37

Bluetus

(388 posts)
26. Absolutely. Let them see all their kids' teeth fall out by age 30
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 01:33 AM
Nov 23

Why are we trying to convince these morons of anything? We should be pushing for legislation that says insurance companies don't have to pay for cavities in states that do not fluoridate their water. We should be pushing for legislation that says, no Federal money for flood relief in states that deny climate change. And so on.

Florida homeowner insurance is more than twice the national average, and that is 100% caused by the rapidly increasing insurance losses directly resulting from climate change.

They made their bed. Let them lie in it. Stop trying to save the morons from themselves. What we should be doing is pushing to stop subsidizing the morons.

WomanWhoRoars

(187 posts)
3. I grew up on a farm....
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:22 PM
Nov 22

...on well water. Let's just say that our trips to the dentist weren't fun until we got fluoride tablets prescribed for us.

Rhiannon12866

(225,722 posts)
17. My brother and I also took those pills when we were little. We lived on the side of a mountain and also had well water
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:02 PM
Nov 22

We called them "salt pills," took them along with a daily vitamin.

travelingthrulife

(1,107 posts)
32. Same here except we didn't have the pills.
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 09:46 AM
Nov 23

So many cavities and it was the norm in the non-fluoridated households.

Timeflyer

(2,763 posts)
6. Science, schmience--who needs fact-based, well-researched, verified by experts in their field knowledgey-informationy
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:39 PM
Nov 22

stuff that we don't understand or like the sound of, stuff. Bring back leeches and blood-letting, and let's start burning witches again, just to be on the safe side. Make America Contagious Again.

turbinetree

(25,471 posts)
7. Did this idiot drink water when he was out in California.............did someone ask him that simple question..........
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:40 PM
Nov 22

and then ask him if he was a neuropsychiatric risk ....................just asking...............

Linda ladeewolf

(525 posts)
8. I get my water from a well , but the dentist puts fluoride
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:47 PM
Nov 22

On my teeth when they clean them. My toothpaste has fluoride in it. I have tooth problems, there are going to be some very rich dentists in Florida. They will have teeth far worse than mine. Poor kids. I just spent a fortune on mine and still need to have a quality partial made.

generalbetrayus

(685 posts)
9. Has Orange Julius Caesar announced an appointment for a new US surgeon general?
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:59 PM
Nov 22

This clown seems like a perfect candidate for the Federal position in the next administration.

LetMyPeopleVote

(156,305 posts)
10. This idiot is a quack
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 07:02 PM
Nov 22

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo's response to measles cases in an elementary school is facing criticisms. It's part of a familiar pattern. This asshole is going to kill people.



https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/measles-cases-floridas-ladapo-fails-urge-vaccinations-rcna140017

As the NBC affiliate in Miami reported, that’s not quite what’s happening.

The Florida Department of Health released a letter Tuesday from Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo emphasizing how contagious measles is and how effective the MMR vaccine is in preventing the disease, but Ladapo did not urge parents to immunize their children.


The letter did note the protections that come with vaccinations, but it didn't take the obvious, affirmative step of actually pushing local families to do the responsible thing.

Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University, referencing Ladapo’s statement, told the local NBC outlet, “The letter doesn’t explicitly say we need to get more people vaccinated, and that is a key point that families need to know.”....

Making matters worse is the frequency with which “scientific nonsense” has become the norm in Florida’s surgeon general’s office. Revisiting our earlier coverage, Ladapo has rejected vaccination guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and faced accusations about misleading the public. He’s embarrassed professional colleagues with his antics and urged the public not to trust scientists, physicians, and other public health officials.

Despite the seriousness of the pandemic, Ladapo also questioned the efficacy of Covid vaccines, denounced vaccine requirements, referenced unsubstantiated conspiracy theories to argue against the vaccines, and encouraged Floridians to “stick with their intuition,” as opposed to following the guidance of those who actually know what they’re talking about.

We’re occasionally reminded, however, that his misjudgments are not limited to Covid.

Karasu

(368 posts)
12. That state is completely and utterly ruled by ideologues who literally don't care what the fuck happens to them.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 08:44 PM
Nov 22

Or anyone else.

Go ahead, go all in on your scientifically illiterate bullshit. Fuck around and find out, Florida GOP. I dare you.

jmowreader

(51,696 posts)
31. For reestablishing blood flow leeches are very good medicine
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 06:54 AM
Nov 23

Seriously. They have leech farms that grow the things specifically for medical use.

Ladapo, however, would consider T. Coraghessian Boyle's "The Road to Wellville" (a fictional story about some of the crackpot shit Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was doing at the Battle Creek Sanitarium - the story was fictional but the quackery Kellogg was doing in the book was stuff Dr. Kellogg was doing IRL) an instruction manual.

IronLionZion

(47,315 posts)
15. Community water fluoridation is one of the greatest public health achievements of all time
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:53 PM
Nov 22

This list includes other public health achievements that MAGA would like to make deadly again.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm

Ten Great Public Health Achievements -- United States, 1900-1999

Vaccination

Motor-vehicle safety

Safer workplaces

Control of infectious diseases

Decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke

Safer and healthier foods

Healthier mothers and babies

Family planning

Fluoridation of drinking water

Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard

Rhiannon12866

(225,722 posts)
18. Is this the same irresponsible jerk who refused to take the pandemic seriously and put citizens in danger from that??
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:04 PM
Nov 22

moniss

(6,258 posts)
24. The sad thing also is
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 12:42 AM
Nov 23

look nationwide at how most of the population seems to have forgotten how long we were all restricting our movements, hearing about thousands and thousand of deaths every week. So many people seem to go about like it never happened. One reason perhaps is that the ones who made it worse through ignorance, greed and purpose were never held to any of what they had done. I felt strongly when Joe took office that he should not let these people off the hook by just moving on with the vaccines etc. So they paid no price and enriched themselves on the unnecessary deaths and illness.

Rhiannon12866

(225,722 posts)
25. I certainly agree, but then we have yet to see TFG held responsible for anything. I really don't get it.
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 12:59 AM
Nov 23

I'm as scared now as I was during the height of Covid.

tclambert

(11,148 posts)
19. Gen. Ripper would be so-o happy!
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:19 PM
Nov 22

"Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face."

"Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream!"

"You know when fluoridation first began? . . Nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works."

(All these quotes are from the 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the greatest movie ever made.)

Initech

(102,820 posts)
27. Honestly if these idiots want to take themselves out of the gene pool at this point...
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 01:34 AM
Nov 23

I'm not going to stop them. Drink your stupid raw milk and take your magic beans. Just don't drag me with you on your way out.

 

John Shaft

(808 posts)
28. Many of my fellow oldsters
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 05:09 AM
Nov 23

recall this shit when Birchers supported anti-fluoride efforts. They thought it would lead to "socialized medicine."

Nothing is new under the sun.

mahatmakanejeeves

(62,014 posts)
35. Meet Joseph Ladapo.
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 01:57 PM
Nov 23
White folks voted for this shit

Leave me out of it 😔


Chris O'Meara/AP

Florida Surgeon Gen. Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo before a bill signing by Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon. During a meeting of the Senate Health Policy Committee in January, Democrats walked out before Republicans voted to OK his nomination.

Source: https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2022-02-07/ladapo-will-go-before-another-senate-committee-in-confirmation-process

Blue_Tires

(57,259 posts)
36. I know who he is, a lackey for DeSantis
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 02:24 PM
Nov 23

Because the previous one gave too much pushback to the governor's direct interference in skewing the COVID-19 death statistics

Oneear

(210 posts)
37. So Donald Trump wants to take out fluoride in water, Question About the Water Pipe integrity
Sat Nov 23, 2024, 02:43 PM
Nov 23

Government Wants to Defund Water Infrastructure Wants to Remove Chemicals. In my town of Cape Girardeau, MO, we still have lead pipes feeding into the community of water ratepayers. That goes back to 1914. With that being said, our water pipes are fragile, and they leak, and when that happens, there is no water or boiling water time. What will the outcome be regarding the integrity of the Metal Pipe? Ask Your Town How Much Lead Pipe is in use in your Town?

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