Another point that conspiracy bros will bring up is that fluoride is a toxic byproduct of aluminum manufacture and dumping it into the water supply is a cheap way for Alcoa to dispose of it benevolently.
Comment on flouride
wolfshadowheart@leminal.space 1 month ago
Back when I was in college, people didn’t like fluoride because it calcifies the pinneal gland. I assume that rhetoric has only been further exaggerated over the years
ZeffSyde@lemmy.world 1 month ago
nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Honestly it really is sad, we have so many more uses for it
Every atom of fluoride going into our water is another atom that can’t go into chlorine trifluoride production. Putting it into the water is a huge sacrifice we make for the health of society.
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Real men make chlorine pentafluoride anyway. We have no use for pathetic hypergolic oxidisers with only three fluorine atoms.
multifariace@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Weird. The only argument I heard, and successfully made it to policy in my area is that it costs tax money and takes away choice. All thus smart stuff is for those damn yankees.
bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net 5 weeks ago
His joke is that fluoride can be used to make extremely dangerous substances
From the wiki on the one he mentioned:
This oxidizing power, surpassing that of oxygen, causes ClF3 to react vigorously with many other materials often thought of as incombustible and refractory. It ignites sand, asbestos, glass, and even ashes of substances that have already burned in oxygen.
Dultas@lemmy.world 1 month ago
They have a choice, they can drink bottled water or well water.
Doomsider@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The majority of fluoride that is released into our water supply is a by-product of fertilizer production.
ZeffSyde@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Even better!
Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It does do this. However so does ageing, low sunlight exposure, low altitude, ethnicity, sex, nutrition, neuro-divergence, cell phone use, EM fields… you get the idea.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
Don’t forget the gravitational pull of Betelgeuse. In a very, very small way, that also effects calcification of the pineal gland.
winterayars@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
(Don’t give them ideas…)
TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Does fluoride-enhanced water actually do this, though? Or just pure fluoride? Yes, pure fluoride has an effect, but I always thought the miniscule amount in our water is not enough to actually make a difference to the natural calcification of our pineal gland, anyways.
Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 1 month ago
From what I have read studies do not show it, however it is believed it does happen because, when the data in those studies is extrapolated for 60+ years, it shows that it should contribute to it, at least
So, yeah, seems too, but it really isn’t a factor worth worrying about
ZMoney@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Does it though? Did they really do XCT on enough brains in areas with different F in their water to show this over time? And correct for the fact that it calcifies with age anyway? And probably does so variably across individuals and populations (2023 meta-analysis says old white men are the most likely to have calcified pineal glands).