Bob Lieb’s specter of Durango Nazis forcing medicated fluoride upon its citizenry (Herald, Feb. 25) exemplifies what happens when careful, reasoned analysis is abdicated in favor of half-truths and fear-based decision making.
The anti-fluoride movement’s tactics ignore the vast body of scientific, peer-reviewed research that overwhelmingly supports the benefits of fluoridation. Their fears are reminiscent of the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s, where “communal” governmental efforts regarding vaccines, water fluoridation and even “mental hygiene” were viewed as an assault on individual freedom.
As in the 1950s, the key to anti-fluoride efforts today is a campaign of misinformation; to find and perpetuate “alternative facts” and to cherry-pick studies that support misguided claims. There is typically a grain of truth associated with anti-fluoride proclamations, but any “facts” (usually from the internet) are horribly skewed to ludicrous proportions, and taken completely out of context.
Yes, you can find online sources that say fluoride lowers IQs. You can find sites that say it’s toxic industrial waste. You can find “proof” that fluoride was used by the Nazis to keep the Jews compliant. You can also find sources that say with absolute certainty that fluoride is sprayed from black helicopters as part of a New World Order, the moon landing never happened, the world is flat, vaccines cause autism, global warming is a Chinese hoax and gravity is a myth.
In addition to logic, the anti-fluoride efforts defy common sense. If you go to the city’s water treatment plant, open a bag of sodium fluoride and shovel a bunch in your mouth, yeah, you’ll probably get pretty sick. You may die. Similarly, if you eat 20 tubes of toothpaste, 10 sticks of Coppertone Sun Block and wash it down with a few bottles of Crest mouthwash, you better hope someone calls 911. That’s why those products have warning labels.
The ballot measure to remove fluoride from Durango’s water reflects a profound mistrust of government, science, and enlightenment-based critical thinking. Worse, it promotes the individual at the expense of the community, which has a corrosive effect on our republic.
On April 4, don’t vote based on fear.
Tom Sluis
Durango
