Message from discussion The health hazards of fluoride (long)

Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!wuarchive!usc!sdd.hp.com!apollo!lubkin
From: lub...@apollo.HP.COM (David Lubkin)
Newsgroups: misc.kids,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: The health hazards of fluoride (long)
Message-ID: <4d0b6366.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 26 Sep 90 19:41:00 GMT
References: <4d00edb3.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> <1990Sep26.012552.16509@ariel.unm.edu>
Sender: r...@apollo.HP.COM
Reply-To: lub...@apollo.COM (David Lubkin)
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 31
Posted: Wed Sep 26 20:41:00 1990

In article <1990Sep26.012552.16...@ariel.unm.edu> bev...@gauss.unm.edu (Mathemagician) writes:
>On my citing William Goldman on killing a person with toothpaste
>isn't a reasonable thing to do, I received a reply of "your
>citing a novel?"
>
>Yes.  William Goldman is a good author who researches his material
>for accuracy before writing it (except in _The Princess Bride,_
>which he didn't write in the first place  ;-)  If he writes that
>killing a person with toothpast is unfeasible, I believe him.
>Having read the ingredients list of a tube of toothpaste, it's
>not inconceivable.

Not that the risks of eating toothpaste are a central point of our
discussion, but I'm sorry.  I'm citing journals like Environmental Fluoride,
JAMA, J. Dent. Res., and Nature, and you're citing a novel?  I don't care
how much confidence you have in Goldman. 

But even supposing it's true that it is not reasonable to kill an adult with
toothpaste, that doesn't say anything about Yiamouyiannis's claim:

    While most children will not consume an entire tube of toothpaste, it
    must be realized that toxic reactions occur before a lethal dose is
    obtained.  In this context, it is important to note that children 4-6
    years of age consume 25-33% of the toothpaste put on their toothbrush.
    [103]

[103] Caries Res. 3:290 (1969)


-- David Lubkin
   lub...@apollo.hp.com