President-elect Donald Trump introduced Thursday he’ll nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as well being secretary, a vocal critic of water fluoridation, linking it to well being dangers.
Kennedy posted on social media, suggesting the president-elect would help ending water fluoridation if Trump gained the election. He described fluoride as an “industrial waste” and linked it to varied well being points, together with arthritis, bone fractures, bone most cancers, diminished IQ, neurodevelopmental problems, and thyroid illness
Kennedy, a outstanding anti-vaccine activist, holds controversial views on public well being. His stance on vaccines raises query about his capability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate.
“For too lengthy, People have been crushed by the commercial meals advanced and drug firms which have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation about public well being,” Trump wrote Thursday on his Fact Social platform. He stated Kennedy would “finish the continual illness epidemic” and “Make America Nice and Wholesome Once more.”
Trump stated Kennedy would goal dangerous medication, meals components and chemical compounds.
Kennedy’s nomination has alarmed public well being officers. Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, instructed The Related Press, “I don’t need to go backwards and see youngsters or adults endure or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines work, and so I’m involved.”
The fluoride debate
In the meantime, there was an ongoing debate within the U.S. whether or not native governments ought to proceed including fluoride to ingesting water to forestall tooth decay.
In early October, the American Dental Affiliation (ADA) reaffirmed its help for “optimum ranges” of fluoride in group water. This endorsement aligns with these of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC. The ADA’s assertion got here after a Cochrane Library evaluation of 157 research prompt that the advantages of water fluoridation might have diminished because of the widespread use of fluoride toothpaste.
Not too long ago, the Florida-based Worldwide Academy of Oral Drugs and Toxicology (IAOMT), which advocates for science-based organic dentistry, highlighted the Cochrane evaluation. In accordance with the IAOMT, Cochrane discovered inadequate proof that water fluoridation reduces dental well being disparities between earnings teams.
“As soon as once more, the scientific literature exhibits that fluoride just isn’t solely dangerous but in addition ineffective. It’s previous time for dental professionals to embrace different, extra significant methods to fight tooth decay which are efficient and non-toxic,” stated IAOMT president Dr. Yuko Torigoe.
Nevertheless, IAOMT just isn’t extensively thought of a mainstream scientific group. The group has additionally lobbied towards the usage of dental amalgam fillings, citing issues about mercury content material.
(With information from the Canadian Press)
