The Conspiracy of Water Fluoridation Essay -- Conspiracy Theory, Fluori

Few object to the therapeutic use of fluoride to stop tooth decay, but fluoridation, the addition of fluoride to the public water supply, can spark avid controversy. Most dentists, medical groups, and government officials argue that fluoridation is a cheap and risk-free venture that doubles cavity prevention. In contrast, a small minority of dentists and conservative political groups argue that fluoride is a hazardous, poisonous substance that should not be consumed. Some antifluoridationists even claim that fluoridation is an untrustworthy form of socialized medicine. But rather than just attacking fluoridation as socialized medicine, opponents originally claimed that it was a conspiracy to poison or brainwash Americans through the water supply. This theory arose in the 1940s when the scientific community refused to endorse or reject fluoridation, thus allowing the debate to expand into the social sphere. While fluoridation opposition may be subconsciously inspired by naturali sm, the social development of fluoridation into a Communist or fascist conspiracy resulted from a conscious effort by conservatives to suppress a growing government. The fluoridation debate results from a visible conflict of paradigms; profluoridationists seek to protect the communal good, while antifluoridationists defend individual rights. According to William Gamson, â€Å"Antifluoridation literature is frequently concerned with†¦ intrusion of government into private realms and with violation of individual liberty and choice† (Gamson, 527). Such concerns are often embodied in the characterizations of fluoridation as mass medication and socialized medicine. One expression identifies water treatment as a violation of free choice while the other po... ...3 May 2003. Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2002. The Blue Book of the John Birch Society. Belmont, Massachusetts: Robert Welch, 1961. United States. House of Representatives. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commence: Hearings on Fluoridation of Water. Washington, GPO, 1954. United States. House of Representatives. House Special Committee on Un-American Activities. Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the U.S. Volume 9. Washington, GPO, 1972. United States. Supplement to Cumulative Index to Publications of the Committee on Un-American Activities, 1955 through 1968. Washington: GOP,1970. Waldbott, George L. Fluoridation: the Great Dilema. Larwerence, Kansas: Coronado Press, 1978.