Tuesday 25 March 2014
Fluoridation of water
Fluoride is known to help prevent tooth decay. Sodium fluoride can be added to toothpaste and water in order to do this. GCSE pupils need to be aware that there are arguments for and against this process. Click on the picture below to link to a BBC news article where this is discussed. Also have a look at the related stories as it will provide background information and supplement your understanding from lessons.
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Actually, sodium fluoride has never been proven to reduce tooth decay. Teal was the first fluoridated toothpaste put out by Procter and Gamble. It contained sodium fluoride and didn't reduce tooth decay. It was taken off the market. Today's fluoridated toothpaste, in the US anyway, don't use sodium fluoride. Sodium fluoride has not been proven safe or effective by the US FDA. And the first human experiment,started in 1945, feeding sodium fluoride to an entire city (Newburgh, NY) actually indicated, ten years later, that it caused bone defects, anemia, earlier puberty . Unfortunately, political pressure forced the experiment to be declared a success only five years into the study before the permanent teeth of children born into the experiment had even erupted yet. See: http://fluoridedangers.blogspot.com/2008/01/1945-human-experiment-predicted-current.html
ReplyDeleteSo it's no surprise we're finding lots of adverse health effects from fluoride that's published in respected peer reviewed journals see http://www.FluorideAction.Net/issues/health
Thanks for the reply, the requirements of the syllabus sates:
Delete"know that sodium fluoride, taken in toothpaste or in the water supply, prevents tooth decay and appreciate that scientists gathered evidence to establish this fact by a range of survey techniques."
and
"understand the arguments for and against fluoridation of the water supply, including the ethical issue of removing freedom of choice for the individual."
Your blog link will provide extra reading information which will hopefully inform and spark debate amongst my pupils.