Coleman’s Science 8 Blog

Many people disapprove of adding fluoride to drinking water for many reasons. A major reason people disapprove of it is because it has been proven that fluoride in drinking water makes people have a higher chance of bone cancer, and you and I both know that we don’t want that happening! Other reasons are that fluoride weakens bones, resulting in many fractures. Other reasons people don’t like fluoride in drinking water is because fluoride can damage the brain, kidneys, and the thyroid gland.

I believe that fluoride should not be added to drinking water for many reasons. First of all, 97% of the countries in Europe choose to drink fluoride- free water, so how great could it be if an entire continent doesn’t use it? Another reason is that modern research has shown that fluoride has minimal benefit when swallowed. My final reason I disapprove in having fluoride in drinking water is that there is no difference in tooth decay when comparing countries that contain fluoride in their water and countries that don’t contain fluoride in their water. With this evidence, it seems to me that it is unnecessary to add fluoride to drinking water. The United States could be using the money put into fluoride for something else like finding a cure for cancer or funding wars.

There are three types of fluoride, stannous fluoride, sodium monofluorophosphate(MFP) and the most commonly known fluoride, sodium fluoride. Before fluoride could be added to mouthwashes and toothpastes, scientists had to figure out a way to match each fluoride with a compatible abrasive. This is very difficult because there are three types of fluorides and many types of abrasives. Finding out what fluoride ion went with what abrasive took a lot of time. To make fluoride prevent tooth decay, the fluoride ion must be available in the solution. Overtime Crest has been very successful in finding what fluoride went with what abrasive. This is the key to Crest’s success because the stronger the fluoride ion the more it will protect your teeth.

The side effects that concern me the most when using fluoride in drinking water are potential damage to the brain and cancer. Cancer and damage to the brain scare me the most because you can survive without your kidney and you can heal from a broken bone, but when you get brain damage, it isn’t going to heal. You are damaged for life. I think that losing the ability to think is the worst punishment you could have. The other side affect i am afraid of is cancer. Cancer is a terrible disease people can get. Most people don’t survive from cancer when they get it. If you do survive you go through a terrible process called kimotherapy. That is why Damage to the brain and cancer are the two things that concern me the most about adding fluoride to drinking water.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7916sci4.html

http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluoride-facts.pf.htm

http://www.health.gov/environment/ReviewofFluoride/MAJfind.htm

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