Birdnow's Aviary

November 08, 2019

Peace on Earth, Purity of Essence not so Nuts

Timothy Birdnow

Here's something I missed; the much-lampooned opponents of floridation of water may well have been right after all.

According to new research children whose mothers drank floridated water when they were pregnant are more likely to, well:

Question Is maternal fluoride exposure during pregnancy associated with childhood IQ in a Canadian cohort receiving optimally fluoridated water?

Findings In this prospective birth cohort study, fluoride exposure during pregnancy was associated with lower IQ scores in children aged 3 to 4 years.

Meaning Fluoride exposure during pregnancy may be associated with adverse effects on child intellectual development, indicating the possible need to reduce fluoride intake during pregnancy.

In the movie Dr. Strangelove the crazed Gen. Jack Ripper launches his nuclear wing to "protect our bodily essence" from the "commie plot' of floridation. Maybe Ripper wasn't so mad after all.

Ripper's failsafe code was a variation of POE which stood for Peace on Earth/Purity of Essence. His letter to the President ended with a plea to "protect our bodily fluids". Maybe Ripper was on to something?

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:16 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Opposition to adding fluoride a town's water supply was a Big Thing when I was a kid, and although I have always suspected that most of those who opposed it had very little scientific knowledge and merely opposed it with the idea of "don't put anything in the water, whatever it is," I believe there have been a number of respected studies over the years that have shown negative results from the practice.

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at November 08, 2019 03:09 PM (EHQ+i)

2 Yes, Dana; the argument then was that we didn't know enough about what fluoride did over the long term. Naturally the media used it to mock conservatives.

On the upside, my dentist told me kids don't get cavities anymore and it is entirely because of fluoridating water. So there is a major bonus.

But if it is making us stupid, is that a price we are willing to pay for good teeth? Especially since so many drink bottled water these days.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at November 09, 2019 07:33 AM (wIup9)

3 Somewhere or other I'm sure I have seen fluoride in the water supply implicated in the development of Alzheimer's. At any rate, there's a heck of a lot more Alzheimer's around than there was years ago. Now, as I've been known to point out, correlation isn't (necessarily) causation, but there are a number of scientists who are suspicious that there is a link.

How to tell? It seems like there's fluoride in so much stuff these days. There's also a ton of sugar in everything.

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at November 09, 2019 12:01 PM (V1LVp)

4 Flouride can't cause, uh, what were we talking about?

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at November 10, 2019 12:03 PM (Ihhkc)

5 Dunno... were we talking about anything? How did I get into this website anyhow?

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at November 10, 2019 10:02 PM (SLw7P)

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