There is still time for the Louisiana legislature to pull the plug on two of the worst health-related bills in recent memory.
A bill to ban the addition of fluoride to drinking water and a bill to make the drug ivermectin available over the counter are both examples of ignorance or conspiracy theories trumping actual scientific data. The result likely would be further declines in public health in Louisiana, which last year was ranked as the second least healthy state in the union.
Louisiana already is backing away, quite dangerously, from a once-successful regime of childhood vaccinations. We shouldn’t back away from sound medical knowledge in these areas too.
In saying this, we aren’t just saying “trust the experts,” which in some political quarters is a suspect position after the experience of some forms of misleading early advice during the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the imperative is to trust the actual empirical data. Most science is just plain fact, not opinion.
The undeniable fact is that fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. The undeniable fact is that in the 80 years since widespread fluoridation of drinking water began, dental health has risen precipitously, and that places with fluoridated water consistently boast considerably better oral health. Examples are legion.
This isn’t just about cavities or about teeth. Tooth decay can lead to a variety of secondary health problems, some of them serious. Ample data shows that the bacteria from tooth decay can contribute to heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia, and diabetes, and that it can also be linked to kidney disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Quite frighteningly, there also is evidence that poor dental health can lead to several forms of cancer.
Both the public and private costs of dealing with those illnesses should frighten any fiscal conservative – as well, of course, as worrying anyone who cares about the safety of Louisiana communities.
Meanwhile, there is no good evidence that fluoride at the low levels added to drinking water poses any threats. Water fluoridation is safe.
As for ivermectin, it may or may not have some of the terrific healing powers attributed to it. Apart from its known ability to help treat parasitic worms and some skin conditions, there is certainly no conclusive evidence that it does help with COVID-19 or other ailments.
It is undeniable that taking large doses of ivermectin can be dangerous in a multitude of ways. And while the Food and Drug Administration does allow doctors to prescribe the drug for off-label use, at least then the physician is applying medical knowledge to individualized circumstances and recommending the doses.
This is not a medicine such as aspirin with 2,400 years of human use and ample understanding of its (minor) risks and rewards. Why would anyone – anyone at all – want to let non-medical personnel self-choose and self-administer a potentially dangerous drug without a physician’s prescription?
Allowing a patient to choose ivermectin on his own, for untested purposes, is folly.
Louisiana lawmakers should kill both bills.
