Well, bless her sycophantic heart. At least she's consistent, I guess. I can't speak to her pregnancy-related concerns b/c I haven't read the studies, but her other arguments are poor. She notes that too much fluoride is bad (yes, but kids don't drink enough to cause damage); she cites ingestion... - ThreadSky

joffirphd.bsky.social • 111 days ago

Well, bless her sycophantic heart. At least she's consistent, I guess.

I can't speak to her pregnancy-related concerns b/c I haven't read the studies, but her other arguments are poor. She notes that too much fluoride is bad (yes, but kids don't drink enough to cause damage); she cites ingestion...

Comments

theinfoaxolotl.bsky.social•103 days ago

She's got blood on her hands for spreading so much disinformation.

coopspeak.bsky.social•110 days ago

Just hearing that woman’s name…

joffirphd.bsky.social•110 days ago

Seriously.

coopspeak.bsky.social•110 days ago

J, I’m not a slapper but I’d make the exception.

joffirphd.bsky.social•110 days ago

I am perpetually queasy and somewhat notorious for losing my lunch in inopportune settings. I think a reenactment of GHW Bush's, uh, banquet episode with Japan's Prime Minister would be a fitting response (but I don't plan to get close enough to her, at any point).

ellabnella.hastwt.net•111 days ago

Are we just like….forgetting what happened in Calgary? They removed fluoride from the water and oral surgery under anesthesia for kids under 5 pretty much doubled within the year

joffirphd.bsky.social•111 days ago

That's exactly what you'd expect to happen. More caries = more dental procedures = more anesthesia need for little kids (who can't handle the procedures awake). But in the US, many families can't afford expensive dental care of this sort, so we can also expect more infection & antibiotic use, too.

joffirphd.bsky.social•111 days ago

2/ Note that in the US, low income families are supposed to have gov. CHIP insurance for kids, but many don't (the Medicaid unwinding threw millions of kids off of CHIP), & while CHIP supposedly covers dental care (at least in some states), providers most often don't take it, so fams must pay OOP.

monzamayhem.bsky.social•111 days ago

Wen was the reason I canceled WaPo. She's wrong on so many topics.

joffirphd.bsky.social•111 days ago

Yeah, I get it; she's dreadful. But I've been loathe to cancel mine, because I'm a news junkie (and ok, I like the games section). Many friends of mine have cancelled both WaPo and NYT, but I just can't imagine; I would find the loss very significant, despite all the reasons to make that statement.

monzamayhem.bsky.social•110 days ago

I've kept the NYT. Going forward I'm doubtful of Wapo's reporting as Bezos will be beholden to Trump to keep his federal contracts.

amk58.bsky.social•111 days ago

What the heck happened with her??

joffirphd.bsky.social•110 days ago

Her takes have been thoroughly horrible (not to mention astoundingly privileged; so much for health equity) for years.

amk58.bsky.social•110 days ago

Sad. She was in a position to do good.

emmet987.bsky.social•103 days ago

Now everyone knows why Planned Parenthood fired Leana Wen so quickly. She’s an ignorant, anti-science, anti-child loon.

cxj.tinpixel.com•102 days ago

Just want to throttle her every time I see an article by her.

Too much fluoride is bad? And too much water, salt, sunshine, etc. is bad as well. My sister has dental fluorosis, and today is much healthier than her siblings who do not.

Wen is an apologist for crazy, harmful policies, & a ghoul.

joffirphd.bsky.social•102 days ago

Yes, she is.

joffirphd.bsky.social•111 days ago

2/ of toothpaste as an issue (which is irrelevant to water fluoridation except to make a case for it, b/c it's much less likely to lead to toxicity than swallowing toothpaste is); & she argues water fluoridation isn't necessary anymore, w/o mentioning that in low-income areas, it really is. (And...

emmet987.bsky.social•103 days ago

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/the-fluoride-debate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=92dl8&triedRedirect=true

joffirphd.bsky.social•103 days ago

This piece is good, & makes clear why RFK's take is wrong. Two quibbles: (1) I wish it had gone a little further in explaining why greatly increased antibiotic use is really bad. Often in PH, there are trade-offs; here, the negligible risk of fluoride must be compared against the sig. risk of...

joffirphd.bsky.social•103 days ago

2/ excessive antibiotic use;

(2) w/ regard to the 2019 IQ study, she's wrong that you can't study IQ in pre-literate kids. The WPPSI has been used w/ preschoolers for decades & has good predictive validity. The real issue w/ the study was that the fluoride levels those kids were exposed to were...

joffirphd.bsky.social•103 days ago

3/ twice the norm. For that reason, it's inappropriate to generalize the study results to the US population. There may also have been other methodological issues w/ the study, too; I haven't read it, bit I just glanced at it to see what IQ test it used - they used the WPPSI-III, & again, the WPPSI

joffirphd.bsky.social•103 days ago

4/ is age appropriate, but I don't understand why they used the -III when everyone had moved to the -IV 7 yrs earlier. So that may have also been a methods issue. I didn't read the study, so I don't know whether the authors addressed it. But IMO, the main issue is that the fluoride levels were high.

joffirphd.bsky.social•111 days ago

3/ what about the R stance that the fed. gov. shouldn't be setting policy for states & municipalities? Anyone notice that they only mean when it's policy they oppose?)

Perhaps I should have cancelled my WaPo sub after all.

Here's my prev take on water fluoridation, ICYMI:

https://bsky.app/profile/joffirphd.bsky.social/post/3lal3g6xejk2e

bpeterswatral.bsky.social•111 days ago

Clear evidence that removing fluoride causes harm.

The prevalence of caries in the primary dentition was significantly higher (P < .05) in Calgary (fluoridation cessation) 64.8% than in Edmonton (still fluoridated) 55.1%

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdoe.12685

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