I have a question that is kinda relevant to survival. I am not sure if I am reading this right. I would very much like someone to double-check this.

It seems that Sodium Fluoride (NaF), a substance banned from use as anything except a wood treatment...
http://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticides/SODIUM-FLUORIDE-PAGE.htm
Is the active ingredient in toothpaste http://www.drugstore.com/qxp28050_333181..._stand_tube.htm
It also seems to be used in city tap water. What is going on here?

The flouride issue is a long running battle between proponents and opponents. We have a retired dentist in our membership, so I yield to his comments first. If it is a concern the solution is simple. Go to any reputable health food or organic store and by fluoride free toothpaste. Drink only non flouridated water.

One of your sites is dedicated to the eradication of floride treatment of water (and toothpaste and dentist-applied floride treatments). Some of the claims, er, allegations that site links to are of the outrageous sort usually found in the tabloids. Some of the cites (linked sites, too) to seem to have some possible scientific basis but who knows?. I am not sure anyone really knows the whole truth, but I am convinced to this point that floride treatment does significantly reduce dental caries.

The internet helps debunk some things and "helps" increase the bunk in other things. Used to be one could seek the motive of claimants and make some intelligent deductions, but there ARE a lot of kooks and kooky sites on the www - look at us...<grin> I truly do not know how much information and allegation is accurate on the floride action network nor how significant the alleged problems are, but overall it IS suspiciously strident.

My opinion is a that lot of the allegations are in the "so what?" category. Like, did you know how poisonous water is? I mean, if you ingest too much of it, it can kill you by disrupting your electrolyte balance - a horrible and painful death as you are wracked by muscle spasms, violent cramps, and the swelling of internal organs... Join the ban-drinking-water coalition and save humanity...

I've read some of their stuff previously and remain skeptical. If they have serious material/evidence, why throw all that other "me too" nonsense in there? But perhaps they have some good info - it's just hard to tell. YMMV; I don't buy it right now.

We have an EPA that proposes some absolutely ridiculous drinking water standards on a regular basis - and in certain regions has even mandated standards that are unbelieveable in various situations you've probably never heard of. Yet they continue to permit (or even endorse) floridation of drinking water. Hmmm... gotta make up your own mind on this; I'm not trying to convince you either way. Just check your sources and try to figure out who knows what they're talking about and if they're telling the (whole) truth.

Good luck... <grin>

This has been an emotionally charged issue since I first entered dentistry in the late 50's. It is well beyond the scope of a post to debunk the myths and fear tactics of the antifluoridationists. Let me simply state that the benefits of fluoride were discovered somewhat accidentally when someone noticed that the incidence of dental caries (decay) was markedly lower in a few areas of the USA. Further study identified fluoride in the water supply as the reason. These areas containing the fluoirde naturally have been studied to exhaustion and there is no other difference in the health of residents than healthier teeth. The optimum concentraion of fluoride is one part per million parts of water. When the concentration rises to 4 + ppm there is danger of mottled enamel. IIRC only one of the areas where fluoride occurs naturally has such high concentrations. I am a proponent of integrated (alternate plus conventional) medicine and my children received fluoride supplements as my grandchildren do currently. I am entirely comfortable with this !!!! During my term of dental practice I witnessed the incredulous reduction in dental caries as the result of fluoride supplementation. A final word of counsel, check the level of fluoride, if any, added or indigenous in your water supply and adjust the level of supplementation accordingly. Regards, Lou

When our first child was teething, my wife (a registered dietitian) obtained the water content information from our local water company. Our water is naturally very low in fluoride. Accordingly my wife got fluoride supplements for our children through our peditrician.

John