Is it ethical to add fluoride in water?

[Gabu]

"Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face...I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Gen. Jack D. Ripper

I do't know if fluoride usage was actually communist infiltration.  I think they focused more on our colleges than water supply"

That was a quote from Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a satirical movie starring Peter Sellers.

[Gabu]

Well, my biggest thing is 'is it necessary today'. I would argue it is much less necessary to have fluoride in the water today than it was then they started. I've had only one cavity in my life, and otherwise have had perfect dental health - this is not due to fluoride, as my home has a well to pump our drinking water from. As I've stated before, dental health has come a long way - toothpaste is much improved, for instance. So, the question is, with today's tools for dental health that are readily available, are the risks brought about by fluoridation still outweighed by the benefits?

I have a feeling it's yet another case of what I like to call "bureaucratic inertia": something is in place, and it would take a lot of effort to remove it, and it's likely that your popularity would go down if you did because you'd have to explain in great detail why you're doing what you're doing and it's inevitable that somebody wouldn't like it, so you just don't do anything about it.

[Gabu]

Dihydrogen Monoxide = Water. lol Dangerous? hilarious

H2O.

Screw dihydrogen monoxide; most food companies add sodium chloride to their food.  Can you believe it?

[Gabu]

Dihydrogen Monoxide = Water. lol Dangerous? hilarious

H2O.

Screw dihydrogen monoxide; most food companies add sodium chloride to their food.  Can you believe it?

I once received a pamphlet from Greenpeace arguing that chlorine is a toxic chemical and therefore we should ban *all* compounds of chlorine.

Hah.  They're thinking of Cl₂ (chlorine gas), a highly toxic substance, but I think someone needs to let them know that the reason it's so toxic is because it's reactive as all hell, not because it's got chlorine in it.  HCl (hydrochloric acid) is a highly corrosive acid, and it's got hydrogen in it, so why don't ban all compounds with hydrogen in it?  It's not like anything useful has hydrogen in it.

[Gabu]

Dihydrogen Monoxide = Water. lol Dangerous? hilarious
H2O.

Screw dihydrogen monoxide; most food companies add sodium chloride to their food.  Can you believe it?

salt, right?

Yep.