Original post by Formerly Helpful_COkay, let's see: fluoride doesn't actually help your teeth at all, it can lead to fluorosis and studies in mainstream peer-reviewed medical journals and government reports now document the fact that serious harms are associated with exposure to small amounts of fluoride - including hip fracture, cancer, and intellectual impairment.
"Medical ethics, morality, economics, legal and political issues have not deterred fluoride promoters in their efforts. Indeed, the problem has been declared a legislative matter, rather than under the jurisdiction of courts of law which might introduce such notions as ethics and reasonableness. The main beneficiaries from fluoride use are the big industries that find a profitable outlet for their otherwise embarrassing toxic byproducts. It is time for change."
"The situation just described characterises the essence of the National Toxicology Program study of the effect of sodium fluoride on rats and mice (NTP Technical Report 1990), except that one set of cancer data showed a statistically significant effect of sodium fluoride in causing cancer-that is, the null hypothesis that fluoride does not cause cancer was rejected. With a very small chance of being wrong, the study showed that sodium fluoride does cause cancer at cumulative doses comparable to those ingested by humans over a number of years."
"The research on fluoride and the brain has been fueled by 18 human studies from China, India, Iran, and Mexico finding elevated levels of fluoride exposure to be associated with IQ deficits in children. Fluoride's impact on IQ is exacerbated among children with low-iodine exposure."
"The impact of fluoride on children's IQ has been documented even after controlling for children's lead exposure, iodine exposure, parental education and income status, and other known factors that might impact the results."
"Fluoridation of water supplies was initiated prior to long-term studies of its effects on bone density. Recent studies suggest that fluoride accumulates with age and may reach toxic bone levels in a person's lifetime (at a water content of 0.97 ppm)"
"The scientific case for saying the administration of fluoride is positively correlated with excess hip fractures is very solid. Ironically, "fluoride therapy" has been used experimentally as a possible cure for osteoporosis for about 25 years, though it is not yet approved for general use. It turns out that not only does fluoride therapy have serious side effects, but it actually causes a three-fold increase in non-vertebral fractures (Riggs et al. 1991). This is because, although the therapy increases bone density, the bone structure is seriously compromised, forming a coarse crystalline matrix with reduced tensile strength; but tensile strength is necessary resist to bending fractures, including those affecting the hip joint."
Amazing for something that isn't 'an issue'.
I don't have any fillings, but this is a scientifically accepted issue.
"Scientists agree that dental amalgam fillings leach mercury into the mouth."
Dr Tom Nyerges, a dentist from Luton, said: "It is now scientifically proven that small amounts of mercury are released from amalgam fillings every time you chew or have a hot drink.
"It is very small amounts and nobody is really sure what effect it has, but mercury is a highly toxic substance, we know that for sure."
"Campaigners blame the highly toxic mercury found in amalgam fillings for a range of ailments.
These include fatigue, depression heart conditions and Alzheimer's disease.
Earlier this month, the U.S. regulator dropped much of its reassuring language on the fillings from its website.
Instead it now says: 'Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and foetuses.'"
"Norway and Denmark banned mercury from fillings earlier this year while Finland and Japan have severe restrictions.
More than half of an amalgam filling is made up of mercury, which is more poisonous than lead.
It is mixed with silver, copper and tin, forming a highly durable combination to lock in the mercury.
But it is now accepted that mercury vapour escapes and small amounts are passed into the bloodstream and organs."
Amazingly, this, also, isn't 'an issue'.
junk food - the less developed world has the likes of Mcdonalds aswell you know?
Why are you comparing the Western nations to the 'less developed world'? This isn't a competition. Something can be an issue and affect everyone in the world. Junk food is something that should be prohibited for the good of mankind. Why should people be condemned to terrible ailments because they were misled by corporations? One only has to walk down the street to see morbidly obese people. The human body was never designed to handle such weights. The only moderation is abstinence.
So, companies posing products as 'healthy' alternatives to biscuits, sweets and bakery items aren't an issue? It is a well-known fact that most people don't bother to actually read the ingredients or the nutritional information. Should they be punished for being naive enough to trust these companies?
Channel 4 had a Dispatches special on this issue the other day. You can view it on 4OD.
I was referring to the debts of the population, rather than that of the state.
Does that make them less squalid? Why are you comparing our standards to theirs? The Western nations have infinitely more money to spend on improving dilapidated and squalid conditions. I can't help but feel like you're grasping at straws here.
Survival rates are, generally, quite poor for the money that is spent.
"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States spent more on health care per capita ($7,146), and more on health care as percentage of its GDP (15.2%), than any other nation in 2008."
"Some have argued that the system does not deliver equivalent value for the money spent. The USA pays twice as much yet lags behind other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy. Currently, the USA has a higher infant mortality rate than most of the world's industrialized nations. In the United States, life expectancy is 42nd in the world, after some other industrialized nations, lagging behind the other nations of the G5 (Japan, France, Germany, UK, USA) and just after Chile (35th) and Cuba (37th)."
"Life expectancy at birth in the USA, 78.49, is 50th in the world, below most developed nations and some developing nations."
Remember, I mentioned 'Western nations'. I believe that I've unequivocally backed up my point.
Also, you didn't offer a response. In fact, you haven't offered a response to any of my points. You have effectively put, 'no, no, no and no' without any justification.
"It is the illegal influx of job seekers from eastern Europe, Asia, South America and Africa that is really causing sleepless nights for some governments.
European Union member Spain, has called the level of immigration "unacceptable". Spain has long been a target of illegal immigrants from North Africa due to its relatively easy access from Morocco."
"On the social front are the soaring crime rates: rapes, domestic violence, honor killings, incest, forced child marriages, and public belligerence against European culture. On the economic front, it is even worse. There is enormous welfare fraud, financial support for polygamous families with bloated birthrates, and an overwhelming of these countries' healthcare systems.
In Europe, Canada, and Australia, there is growth of Immigrants scamming social services. One clever rascal in Canada (arrested in 2011) provided false Canadian citizenship documents to hundreds of people in the Middle East so they could collect benefits and tax refunds of up to $500,000. Even worse, none of the recipients actually lived in Canada. The Mounties caught him.
An Iranian immigrant was told by his Swedish social worker that there was no need to get a job because the Swedish government put checks in the mail each month. (Someone should find her and fire her.) Indeed Sweden does this, to the tune of about $7 billion every year, which has contributed to bringing the Swedish welfare state to the brink of bankruptcy. The same is true for Norway. Non-Western immigrants, they say, are ten times as likely to be on social assistance as native Norwegians.
Muslim immigrants in Denmark make up 5% of the population but consume 40% of welfare spending. In France, a polygamous Muslim father of 17 children was charged with welfare fraud when authorities discovered that two of his “wives” lived in Dubai for a year while continuing to get welfare benefits worth 10,000 Euros. One of his wives had been fined for driving while wearing a niqab that restricted her vision.
Australia, which is less tolerant of criminal immigrants than Europe, discovered that an Algerian immigrant and father of seven, Abdul Nacer Benbriks, on trial for terrorism, had been ordered deported three times, never worked a day in 19 years, and has cost the Australians millions in welfare payments, baby bonus checks, and other benefits.
Many well-known Islamic radicals are also on the dole. In London, Anjem Choudary, a notorious hate preacher, has bragged about receiving 25,000 pounds a year in benefits. He also threatened an attack during the recent royal wedding."
This ties in with the above point, and also the point to follow. Unless you live in the suburbs of a city, you probably won't have to deal with this. The 2011 riots were as a result of this social tension, even if you want to believe the official reason - that they were protesting the death of Mark Duggan.
Either you are the most delusional person in the world or you just walk around with your eyes closed. If you would care to look at Newham, Luton, Bradford, Tower Hamlets, Leicester and Birmingham, then you would see just what I'm referring to. Immigration has drastically changed the demographic of those areas beyond even the most extreme predictions. I very much doubt you would feel secure walking down the streets of Newham in the day or at night.
Having shown up all of your "rebuttals", I will let you sleep with the belief that there isn't rampant disease.
I believe you may wish to re-evaluate your stance.