So says my tube of Tom’s of Maine Natural anti-plaque, tartar control, plus whitening toothpaste. Is fluoride not Kosher or somehow offensive to a large group of people? I’m just a little puzzled as to why fluoride violates their customers’ “diverse needs and interests.” Interests?
Any ideas on this? I know Tom’s of Maine is hippie-ish (for lack of a better term) but even this seems a little out there.
Argh, it cut off my title, should read:
“We produce our toothpaste without fluoride because we respect our customers’ diverse needs and interests.”
Well considering flouride has been added to all US public water systems for YEARS (not sure of decades) this is a hippie using capitalism to make a buck.
There have been campaigns to oppose adding fluoride to communities’ water supplies because the opponents THINK it causes health problems like cancer. My suspicion is that the “hippie” type of person is more suspicious of adding chemicals to anything than the average person, so that’s probably why Tom’s doesn’t use it.
But flouride is the main ingredient that helps prevent cavities and gum disease. Does he also sell non-emulsifying soap?
Fluoride is a very deadly toxin and there has been speculation that taking it via liquids and toothpaste might be giving people a variety of illnesses such as mottling of the teeth, cancer, hypothyroidism, etc.
However its hard to find an unbiased website. most websites on that subject sell ‘all natural’ health food.
Well I’m no expert so prolly won’t post to this thread anymore since it’ll be mostly opinion, but all natural doesn’t mean healthy.
Would you buy a product containing arsenic, cyanide and carbon monoxide as an icer? It would be an all-natural product!
I wonder if the FDA would allow me in food sales?
Wow, who knew fluoride was so controversial?
Yikes.
Agreed.
Thanks all.
Back in my long-lost youth (1950s, into the 1960s), some of the extreme right-wingers (John Birch Society types) regarded fluoridation of the water supply as a Communist plot, designed to poison all of us. You simply wouldn’t believe the hysteria that surrounded the subject if you hadn’t seen it in action.
Fluoride is toxic if taken in large doses. Then again, so are a lot of things we use, in small doses, to make ourselves healthier (aspirin, some vitamins, most prescription drugs, etc., etc.).
An informative article
I really wish to see a cite for this claim. My handy Encyclopædia Britannica has this to say:
While discoloration of the teeth is no fun, I find it to be vary far from cancer and whatever other claims you make.
Fluoride is a toxic foreign substance introduced into the water supply that corrupts into our precious bodily fluids.
[sub]We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when,
But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through, just like you always do,
'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.[/sub]
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health.htm
its a biased site but its not like they are making news stories up either.
Ack! I just noticed your user name. No wonder the doom and gloom.
How did Gen. Jack D. Ripper sneak in here, astro? (If that is your real name… 
)
Not all communities floridate their water. I live near two cities that do not. Around here, it’s the extreme left-wing that resists fluoridation. (It always warms the cockles of my heart to see the extreme left and the extreme right agree on something. ;)) Also, most homes in rural areas have private wells which are not artificially fluoridated, though they may contain varying levels of fluoride naturally, depending on the geology of the region. Thus, a person wishing to avoid fluoride has several options, including only drinking (even only cooking with) unfluoridated bottled water.
Providing fluoride-free toothpaste to consumers who prefer to avoid fluouride, whatever the health costs or benefits, is not a scam.
A perfectly valid opposition to fluoridation is that the water supply is a exactly that; a supply of water. It is not a means of administrating mass medication without the patient’s choice or permission. And that applies regardless of the benefits, which are certainly not without contention.
Which is why the OP’s toothpaste offers a choice. Why should your water supply remove that choice?
Originally posted by astro
Fluoride is a toxic foreign substance introduced into the water supply that corrupts into our precious bodily fluids.
How did Gen. Jack D. Ripper sneak in here, astro? (If that is your real name… )
I hope that you realize that while we are here chatting so enjoyably, that there is a plan afoot to introduce flouride into ice cream!?!? CHILDREN’S ice cream!?!?!
also, tell me this…have you ever seen a Commie drinking water? or, was it vodka?
i think that explains it quite clearly!
I should have known that Cecil would have something to say on the matter.
It seems that fluoride is more divisive that I had imagined. I have a better understanding of why Tom’s offers a fluoride-free toothpaste. I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to avoid fluoride but it’s good to know about the fluoride/no fluoride debate and to have a choice in the matter.
You all have been most informative, thanks.