Credit: Do you even Science, Bro
Vani Hari, otherwise known on her blog as The Food Babe, has just published a book “The Food Babe Way: How to break free of hidden toxins…” warning us of dangerous chemicals in food. Hari has considerable influence, not only among her readers but within the food industry because of her activism against all things ‘chemical’, yet she has been heavily criticised for her lack of scientific credentials.
So how does this relate to fluoridated water?
Hari states in her new book “…study after study confirms that fluoride is a dangerous poison…” and “But fluoride is essentially a toxic waste product fed to us through our taps”.
Apart from being factually incorrect, this view is redolent of Chemophobia.
Chemophobia can be described as an ‘irrational fear of chemicals’. But this definition has problems – you see, everything made from matter is a chemical. That means sulphuric acid, cyanide and uranium are chemicals. But so too is sugar and spice and organically grown rice.
Chemicals aren’t ‘bad’. No, they are what makes everything possible. A strict interpretation of Chemophobia would therefore mean an irrational fear of everything. Chemophobia more about the fear of what people think are chemicals. David Gorski, an author from Science-Based Medicine, has suggested that if Hari thinks a substance sounds “yukky” then it must be “bad” also substances that ‘sound’ like a chemical qualify.
Many people may remember when Penn and Teller began a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide from town water supplies. This was a repeat of many similar hoaxes during the eighties and nineties. It may be entertaining watching unsuspecting people signing petitions banning water – we would all like to think we wouldn’t be so gullible!
What is more worrying is when people who should know better fall for such pranks. Amazingly, there have been two cases in New Zealand where elected politicians have not only fallen, but have embarrassed themselves by publicly endorsing the removal of water from…well, water. I wonder if Hari would sign up?
Hari wields a substantial amount of influence over a large number of people. During her 2011 campaign against Subway, she gathered more than 50,000 signatures in a twenty-four hour period for a petition asking Subway to remove azodicarbonamide from their sandwich bread.
So when she tells people that fluoridated water is toxic and poisonous, sadly a large number of people will believe her. One of the most persistent yet demonstrably false myths surrounding community fluoridated water is that fluoride ions are toxic or poisonous.
Paracelsus (1493-1541), the father of toxicology, is credited with writing: “Everything is poison, there is poison in everything”.
It’s all in the dose, or quantity of substance consumed that determines whether any toxic or indeed any beneficial effects result. It seems so intuitive – apply it to any substance you can think of, say, water. The median lethal dose for anyone drinking water in one sitting is only six litres.
Think of the most dangerous. Botulism has been described as the most toxic substance in nature: just one gram could kill 14,000 people if swallowed or over 8 million if injected, yet an extremely weakened form of the botulinum toxin, (Botox) has been administered to millions of people.
Hari relies upon several scientific studies to support her foolish claims yet it appears that she hasn’t even bothered to read them. For example, she cites “Fluoride in groundwater: toxicological exposure and remedies”. This study is concerned with high levels of fluoride due to contamination but upon closer inspection, actually supports low levels of fluoride in drinking water;
“Fluoride when ingested in small quantities (<0.5 mg/L) is beneficial in promoting dental health by reducing dental caries, whereas higher concentrations (>1.5 mg/L) may cause fluorosis”
(S. K. Jha, R. K. Singh, T. Damodaran, V. K. Mishra, D. K. Sharma & Deepak Rai, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health: 2013;16(1):52-66).
Does she think no one will bother checking her references? Or that cobbling together some ‘sciency’ type studies will give her advice more credibility with her readers? Whatever her reasons it is clear she is misleading the public.
So when The Food Babe recommends avoiding fluoridated water, I would take it with a very large grain of sodium chloride.
Sources:
“The Food Babe Way: Break Free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food and Lose Weight, Look Years Younger, and Get Healthy in Just 21 Days!”, Vani Hari, (2015).
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-food-babes-war-on-chemicals-heats-up-again/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vani_Hari
http://someinterestingfacts.net/top-10-most-deadliest-substance-known-to-man/
S. K. Jha, R. K. Singh, T. Damodaran, V. K. Mishra, D. K. Sharma & Deepak Rai, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health: 2013;16(1):52-66
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