Re: the "first need" water purifier that's produced by General Ecology.

It's a misnomer to call this gadget a 'water purifier' because it doesn't remove any flouride. OK, so it does remove chlorine and all kinds of other stuff from the tap water .... but it still isn't satisfactory as far as I'm concerned, given that flouride is a serious poison, is known to have many harmful effects, and is even listed as a poisonous compound in most European countries. I've been searching around in the hope of finding something like the "first need" but which is better than the "first need" because it also removes flouride. I've seen all kinds of water purification units on the market that remove flouride, but the one that I'm looking for has got to be a portable unit so as to fit the lifestyle of a vagabond like myself who is constantly moving around from place to place. L.W.

That would be an interesting find since "portable" and "flouride removal" are not typically compatible. Maybe a lifeboat reverse osmosis unit would do the trick, but that's awfully expensive.

If you can go as large as one of the Berkey models, they do make a flouride-removing PF-2 cartridge. But that needs to be used in addition to one of their standard black ones, to get the full range of water purification.

Are we talking for daily use, or just emergencies? I've never done the calculation, but you may find that finding bottled water without added flouride is more economical than fitering, even over the long term, especially if you're just concerned with drinking/cooking water, and not including bathing/showering water.

I had discussed this with a friend,of whom works at The Poop Soup Plant(Hyperion Treatment Plant).He said Distillation should do the trick as,It depletes the water's ability to contain Minerals in Evaporation.I asked if Flouride is a Mineral?He said,Originally Yes,but more like a salt.He said 3-cycles of Distillation,Should do the trick you should have 99.9% pure H20! So I guess a Still would be the answer,instead of a plant base,you just use Water! Hope this helps!

I take it you don't use toothpaste?

-john

FWIW, some toothpaste makers currently offer flouride free toothpaste. Trader Joes brand and Tom's of Maine are the two I've seen.

Based on science, a little Flouride is beneficial.....and a lot will kill you. The same can be said for most biologically beneficial elements/substances. Too much H2O ingested WILL kill you. Without it you become a pile of powder and bones.
Most people realize flouride (Fl)is beneficial to our teeth, especially during formation. Fl is VERY beneficial to bones when present in small amounts (~1.PPM)especially when they are formed.The benefit? Increased resiliency. In a complete absence of Fl bones are brittle. With Fl @ formation of the bone they bend and flex to a more than just 'statistically significant' greater degree. Without (in the absence of all)Fl bones break rather than flex.
It probably doesn't directly affect most forum members since few are 'old timers', but very low dosage Fl helps reduce/slow osteoporosis.

It also has other uses and benefits, but minor by comparison.

Throwing some science your way.....Take it or leave it as you wish.

gimpy

While I personally think fluoridation provides a net public health benefit, people can choose to ingest less if they so desire (provided that they are not harming the health of themselves or their families).

In areas where naturally occurring fluoride levels are too high, an "activated alumina defluoridation filter" is used. This is not a portable solution.

As I understand it, reverse osmosis removes a large percentage of fluoride. And just about every grocery store has a fill-your-own-jug unit. So, for a traveller, filling a few handy-sized jugs for drinking and making tea would be pretty easy.

It never made any sense to add fluoride to the water supply for the ostensible reason of tooth decay prevention. If you want to use fluoride as an oral hygiene aid, you can always rinse your mouth with it, but that's no reason to ingest flouride into your body ! This chemical is known to dumb people down. It has known adverse effects on the central nervous system with prolonged use.

I suspect that the REAL reasons for adding fluoride to the water supply are totally different from the stated reasons.

I don't use toothpaste.

Soap is a good substitute for toothpaste.

Not sure what kind of soap you would ever be using to substitute toothpaste. You may want to research some of the ingredients that goes into the soap making process. Most of the chemicals were never meant for oral mouth hygiene and I would hazard to say (no pun intended) that these ingredients are more hazardous to your wellbeing then Fluoride ever would be...