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In-Depth Interview: Rethinking Fluoridation, With Dr. Richard Shames

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Since the 1950’s, public water suppliers have added fluoride in an effort to reduce tooth decay in water consumers, especially low income children and families.  Dr. Richard Shames, a general practitioner with a thyroid focus, wants us to rethink fluoridation.Dr. Shames studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard, and worked at the National Institutes of Health.  With his wife Karilee Shames, he has authored 3 books about thyroid issues; more information is here.

We open with discussion of his interest in the thyroid, which originated with health issues his wife encountered.  As they researched for their first book on thyroid matters, they discovered studies that show serious side effects of fluoridated water, especially for people with compromised thyroids.  This led them to reject the consensus view they’d long embraced, and challenge the value of water fluoridation.

Shames also explains that the chemicals now used to fluoridate water supplies are byproducts of smokestack emissions, and he considers them to be toxic, especially to people with auto-immune deficiencies.  And he argues that we need rigorous scientific review of fluoridation to determine its positive and negative impacts.