News over the weekend regarding fluoride in tap water is evidence that the debate regarding the safety and effectiveness of the chemical process continues to be heated discussion.
Fluoride enthusiasts are having their way here in California, having succeeded in prying open the valve that controls additives to municipal water. Fluoride has the distinction of being the only chemical (so far) to be added to public water for the purpose of treating the person, rather than treating the water.
Toxicopathy is a new word to me, but one I believe we will all be hearing about more and more. According to Dorland”s Medical Dictionary (1993) toxicopathy means “any disease caused by a poison.” The same book defines poison as “any substance taken into the body by ingestion, inhalation, injection or absorption that interferes with normal physiological functions.”
A fish out of water and a human without water are not so very different. A fish can survive outside water for a few minutes, while a human being can last only a matter of days without fresh drinking water. Our need for water is more immediate than our need for food, because we can live for thirty days or more without eating. Only air is more critical to short term survival than water.
It is generally believed that biological organisms require a certain amount of stress in order to maintain their well-being. So, according to Taber’s medical dictionary stress is good for us. But what is meant by ‘a certain amount?” Just the usual daily stress that makes you want to gesture creatively with your hand toward the guy who just cut you off on the freeway? Or are we talking about the ‘throw your television set through the living room window’ kind of stress? I guess we shouldn’t stress over this too much and just take the old English proverb to heart, ‘A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.”
News over the weekend regarding fluoride in tap water is evidence that the debate regarding the safety and effectiveness of the chemical process continues to be heated discussion.
Fluoride enthusiasts are having their way here in California, having succeeded in prying open the valve that controls additives to municipal water. Fluoride has the distinction of being the only chemical (so far) to be added to public water for the purpose of treating the person, rather than treating the water.
Toxicopathy is a new word to me, but one I believe we will all be hearing about more and more. According to Dorland”s Medical Dictionary (1993) toxicopathy means “any disease caused by a poison.” The same book defines poison as “any substance taken into the body by ingestion, inhalation, injection or absorption that interferes with normal physiological functions.”
A fish out of water and a human without water are not so very different. A fish can survive outside water for a few minutes, while a human being can last only a matter of days without fresh drinking water. Our need for water is more immediate than our need for food, because we can live for thirty days or more without eating. Only air is more critical to short term survival than water.
It is generally believed that biological organisms require a certain amount of stress in order to maintain their well-being. So, according to Taber’s medical dictionary stress is good for us. But what is meant by ‘a certain amount?” Just the usual daily stress that makes you want to gesture creatively with your hand toward the guy who just cut you off on the freeway? Or are we talking about the ‘throw your television set through the living room window’ kind of stress? I guess we shouldn’t stress over this too much and just take the old English proverb to heart, ‘A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.”