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 states 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 nations third-largest state called Friday for a halt to adding fluoride to Floridas 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.
Ladapos announcement comes three weeks after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is President-elect Donald Trumps choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Trump administration plans to issue a similar recommendation nationwide next year. Kennedys 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/
kacekwl
(7,700 posts)for all your loony politicians. See me in 10 years.
Bluetus
(388 posts)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.
flying_wahini
(8,044 posts)WomanWhoRoars
(187 posts)...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)We called them "salt pills," took them along with a daily vitamin.
travelingthrulife
(1,107 posts)So many cavities and it was the norm in the non-fluoridated households.
elleng
(137,262 posts)Amazing that Ladapo has lasted as long as he has.
travelingthrulife
(1,107 posts)elleng
(137,262 posts)Timeflyer
(2,763 posts)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)and then ask him if he was a neuropsychiatric risk ....................just asking...............
jmowreader
(51,696 posts)Linda ladeewolf
(525 posts)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)This clown seems like a perfect candidate for the Federal position in the next administration.
LetMyPeopleVote
(156,305 posts)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.
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/measles-cases-floridas-ladapo-fails-urge-vaccinations-rcna140017
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 Ladapos statement, told the local NBC outlet, The letter doesnt 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 Floridas surgeon generals 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. Hes 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 theyre talking about.
Were occasionally reminded, however, that his misjudgments are not limited to Covid.
JustAnotherGen
(33,960 posts)Just keep it in your borders and don't put that shit on me in NJ
Karasu
(368 posts)Or anyone else.
Go ahead, go all in on your scientifically illiterate bullshit. Fuck around and find out, Florida GOP. I dare you.
tonekat
(2,079 posts)And tobacco enemas.
jmowreader
(51,696 posts)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.
Evolve Dammit
(19,375 posts)IronLionZion
(47,315 posts)This list includes other public health achievements that MAGA would like to make deadly again.
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
paleotn
(19,702 posts)Rhiannon12866
(225,722 posts)moniss
(6,258 posts)Rhiannon12866
(225,722 posts)moniss
(6,258 posts)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)I'm as scared now as I was during the height of Covid.
tclambert
(11,148 posts)"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.)
moniss
(6,258 posts)do little to nothing about lead paint and pipes.
EllieBC
(3,400 posts)Dentists are making out like bandits.
Initech
(102,820 posts)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)recall this shit when Birchers supported anti-fluoride efforts. They thought it would lead to "socialized medicine."
Nothing is new under the sun.
truthisfreedom
(23,334 posts)A bankrupt nation of rotting teeth.
Blue_Tires
(57,259 posts)Leave me out of it 😔
mahatmakanejeeves
(62,014 posts)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)Because the previous one gave too much pushback to the governor's direct interference in skewing the COVID-19 death statistics
Oneear
(210 posts)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?