Ham on Wry has chosen the Tea Party as this week's recipient of ridiculous behavior. Earlier this week, members of the Tea Party in Pinellas County, Florida, badgered the Pinellas County Commission about the dangers of fluoridation in drinking water. I must admit, that has long been one of the major concerns I have. Seriously, are these people kidding? When I was in high school many moons ago, the small town in which I lived brought in a dentist to give fluoride treatments because its benefits had long been touted as an effective preventive measure against cavities. Who knew that such an action endangered the entire town? Tea Party activist Tony Caso believes that "Fluoride is a toxic substance. This is all part of an agenda that’s being pushed forth by the so-called globalists in our government and the world government to keep the people stupid so they don’t realize what’s going on.” Well, Tony, I guess we've been stupid since 1945, when the country first started adding fluoride to drinking water.
Caso must know something that the Center for Disease Control doesn't. The CDC has recognized it as one of the top ten public health interventions of the 20th Century, so Caso must certainly have the credential to counter that opinion. According to St. Petersburg Times staff writer, Becky Bowers, Matt Leffler of Clearwater told the County Commission Tuesday, "History shows, actually, that in Nazi Germany, one of the first things that they did was add fluoride to the water in the ghettos where the Jews stayed." Another Times reader claimed the Nazi's use of fluoride was, "an absolute historical fact." Politifact Florida checked the evidence and declared this claim, Pants on Fire.
Most alarming of all is that the Pinellas County Commission voted to remove fluoride from the drinking water. Forget the fact that a majority of kids today can report no cavities, if they receive regular dental checkups. So much statistical evidence has been collected on this subject that Ham on Wry can't cite it all. Shame on the Tea Party and shame on the commissioners who voted for stopping a benefit that has helped the residents of Pinellas County. We have taken a giant step backward when we allow people who probably still believe that the world is flat to dictate policy. Florida is fast becoming the laughing stock of the nation with this type of absurdity. Does anyone remember the Twilight Zone episode, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street?" If you don't or weren't alive when it aired, check it out on an internet search. We're doomed if intelligent people don't speak up about this kind of nonsense and take a stand against ignorance.
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