this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
1273 points (96.6% liked)

Science Memes

11148 readers
3388 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

I believe the objection to fluoride is that it is a tranquilizer that keeps us from achieving glory through violent uprising... or sweet sweet dentist profits.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

This is a conspiracy by fluoridians.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Thats what the fluoridiots say.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

fluorida man strikes again

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah but I read an article on a bullshit website. I think some no name website knows more than a toxicologist

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Why is some dumb scientist expert trying to tell me, a person who pays for an internet connection, what the truth is?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

Because something something shill money.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Back when I was in college, people didn't like fluoride because it calcifies the pinneal gland. I assume that rhetoric has only been further exaggerated over the years

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Another point that conspiracy bros will bring up is that fluoride is a toxic byproduct of aluminum manufacture and dumping it into the water supply is a cheap way for Alcoa to dispose of it benevolently.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 minutes ago

Honestly it really is sad, we have so many more uses for it

Every atom of fluoride going into our water is another atom that can’t go into chlorine trifluoride production. Putting it into the water is a huge sacrifice we make for the health of society.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

It does do this. However so does ageing, low sunlight exposure, low altitude, ethnicity, sex, nutrition, neuro-divergence, cell phone use, EM fields... you get the idea.

[–] JasonDJ 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Don't forget the gravitational pull of Betelgeuse. In a very, very small way, that also effects calcification of the pineal gland.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 minute ago

(Don't give them ideas...)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Does fluoride-enhanced water actually do this, though? Or just pure fluoride? Yes, pure fluoride has an effect, but I always thought the miniscule amount in our water is not enough to actually make a difference to the natural calcification of our pineal gland, anyways.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 46 minutes ago

From what I have read studies do not show it, however it is believed it does happen because, when the data in those studies is extrapolated for 60+ years, it shows that it should contribute to it, at least

So, yeah, seems too, but it really isn't a factor worth worrying about

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Agreed but can we turn down the chloramine valve? It tastes awful.

[–] we_avoid_temptation 2 points 1 hour ago

Why not just get a water filter?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Great post... but where is the meme?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

The meme is now this is not US policy.

Its like stating the world is not flat... when in fact NASA's official stance is that the world is, indeed, flat.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Without Fluoride all the humour in the world dies.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The people who need to hear this sadly would not believe that too much water can kill you even if you showed them someone die from it, I fear. I'd also be shocked if they read "water poisoning" and didn't think of poisoned water.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I didn’t know this was a thing when I was younger, but not young enough to not be classified as a moron.

Drank about 7-8 litres of water in 3 hours without going to the bathroom as a contest against a work colleague. Suffice to say I started feeling a little off on the way home, even after going to the bathroom. Years later I finally learned you can drown yourself from drinking too much and the symptoms were eerily close to what I experienced that night.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago

Oh don't get me wrong! I also only learned about water toxicity when I was very much an adult.

But the difference between us and the type of person I'm talking about, is that we (I'm presuming on your part) don't think fluoride in water is a bad thing.

The kind of person who hears "the government adds CHEMICAL_NAME to water" and assumes that's a bad thing is the kind of person who will not believe drinking too much water can kill you, even (or especially) if they are told by an expert.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

How much oatmeal would I have to eat to die of fluoride poisoning?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

0.08mg per half cup serving, but may vary depending on water used. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Fluoride-HealthProfessional/

10mg is the accepted daily upper limit for an adult. So 62.5 cups of oatmeal to reach that max safe limit. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Fluoride-Consumer/

Acute poisoning symptoms may appear as low as 10-15 mg/kg, lethal dose might be 32-64 mg/kg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity

So 200 to 400 cups of oatmeal per kg you weigh for a lethal dose. (32/0.08/2=200, 64/0.08/2=400)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago

That's a lot of oatmeal.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Oh yeah? And what if someone ignores that, simply lies and says it's toxic? I'm convinced!

[–] [email protected] 31 points 16 hours ago

And both of these people telling me about fluoride in water are both experts in their field. One an expert toxicologist, and the other an expert liar. Now I don't know what to believe.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like I woke up in the movie Dr. Strangelove

[–] [email protected] 11 points 12 hours ago

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.

Second time I got to post this today, unfortunately because it's almost ceased being satire.

[–] [email protected] 228 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 47 minutes ago) (10 children)

Toxicologist here. I think that take is dishonest or dumb.

Taking a lethal dose is almost never the concern with any substance in our drinking water.

Hormones, heavy metals, persistent organic chemicals, ammonia are all in our drinking water. But for all of them we can't drink enough water to die from a high dose.

Some of them still have a large effect on our bodies.

It's about the longterm effects. Which we need longterm studies to learn about. That makes them harder to study.

Still doesn't mean flouride does anything bad longerm. But the argument is bad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, it seems to me like he got the right idea and wanted to convince people by making an extreme statement..

[–] [email protected] 3 points 45 minutes ago

That might well be the case. I'm not sure if it is helpful to use those half truths which are simpler to convince certain people. Or if it weakens the point because it is in the end not really correct.

[–] [email protected] 100 points 21 hours ago (7 children)

Yeah, by this argument lead in the water isn't a concern.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 21 hours ago

You just made me mad by helping me realize that the Trump bros are going to break water by removing fluoride long before they fix water by removing lead.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] [email protected] 48 points 18 hours ago (8 children)

So, once again, DHMO is the chemical we need to fear.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago

Any chemical that can exist as a solid, a liquid and a gas at the same time isn't safe to put into our bodies!

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 15 hours ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours ago

This is a better argument than the one in the post. No one is worried about acute toxicity of fluoride but rather long term. But it's not long term toxic, doesn't accumulate in the body, and is only present in very low amounts in water. However it should be enough to use fluoridated toothpaste to get the positive effects.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

I don't understand your point.

Nobody drinks the ocean. Fluoride is barely active topically. Most humans rarely if at all swim in the ocean.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago

Talking about the ocean is odd, but there are towns in the UK (and most countries I'd assume?) where the natural level of fluoride is higher than the concentration they aim for when adding fluoride. I think that's a pretty good argument for it being safe - the people of Hartlepool have been drinking fluoride rich water for 13 centuries and don't have any noticeable issues compared to the rest OF County Durham.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago

Yeah. It's not an entirely salient point. It does, however, underline the ubiquitous nature of fluorine.

The biggest source of Flourine in the environment is just the normal weathering of rocks that contain it. The biggest of the anthropogenic sources include brick production, phosphate fertiliser application and coal burning.

The minor amount added to drinking water really wouldn't be the biggest issue if it was as toxic as it's made out to be.

load more comments
view more: next ›