10-06-2011, 06:15 PM
RgrF wrote:
[quote=kj]
Well, it's technically true. Of course, caffeine is toxic too, as are a lot of things we consume all the time. I like my teeth and bones, so fluoride's cool with me, though. I don't think it's particularly a Tea Party thing though. My high school chemistry teacher told me fluoride was "industrial waste" in the eighties, so the controversy has been around for a while. kj.
It was a John Birch platform back in the sixties. People were led to believe that this societal effort to strengthen teeth in children was a Communist/Socialist plot. Many believed it so, just as their descendants believe almost anything the far right offers them.
John Birchers were once considered so far off the compass as to be a joke (they accused Eisenhower of being Communist), today their progeny rule Republican policy, such as it is. Pure and undeniable evidence of the failure of our educational system.
I blame Pops.
I didn't know that, but it looks like that is the origin of the whole thing. However, a quick google:
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=fluoride+industrial+waste
shows that both left and right fringes (and a lot in between) seem to have picked up on it. Unfortunately, a lot of these people seem to have pretty decent educations/knowledge. I guess when you educate a crazy person, you get an educated crazy person. kj.