Poisoning our Water

Fluoridate Water is back in the news.

I think the concept of forcing flouride on people through the water system is twisted.

When a panel of scientists last year reported that high fluoride levels could damage the tooth enamel of children and weaken adult bones, opponents of fluoridation cited the finding as more proof of the chemical’s danger.

But the National Academies’ National Research Council focused on the relatively small number of Americans who drink water with naturally occurring fluoride levels that are about four times the recommended concentration. The report didn’t examine the risks or benefits of lower-level artificially fluoridated water.

Nevertheless, the council’s report prompted the American Dental Assn. to recommend that reconstituted baby formula be made with fluoride-free water to reduce the risk of enamel fluorosis, which could permanently stain developing teeth. The group continues to support fluoridation of drinking water.

That kind of scientific nuance, filtered through city council debates and voter initiatives — and now the Internet — has kept fluoride out of some water systems. Still, about 170 million Americans, about two-thirds of the population, drink from public systems with the recommended amount of fluoride.

Good to hear it’s still being fought.

Fun News

There isn’t just one species of giraffe!! There could be as many as six!

Using molecular techniques we found that giraffes can be classified into six groups that are reproductively isolated and not interbreeding,” David Brown, the lead author of the study and a geneticist at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), told BBC News.

“The results were a surprise because although the giraffes look different, if you put them in zoos, they breed freely.”

Who knew?

Saudi Arabia and Women’s rights

Oh – we hear they can’t drive, they can’t be out and about with a male unescorted, we hear tons of things…..but I had never ever heard that a woman’s half brothers can divorce her from her husband because they don’t approve!!
Good Lord, the woman has 2 children with this man. Isn’t “divorce” worse than his lower status?

Unbelievable.

And guess what? It’s not a “woman’s issue”, that poor man lost his wife in this. Does he not get any say there because of his status?

Recession

It’s a funny thing how we spenders actually control the economy, not the fed.

Just yesterday in the NYTimes we heard of the summer “sprint” with the expectation that consumer worries were going to quell spending in the 4th quarter.

And yet today from the AP we hear that consumer spending “surged” in November reducing fears of that all too imminent recession.

I’m no economist but it looks to me like da people get to say.