Tangled Bank #33

The lead article is a re-hashed, pseudoscientific article on the "evils" of fluoride. The writer uses strawmen, debunked arguments and out-of-context quotes to support his ridiculous position.

This is a site you endorse and are sending people to?

Indeed. Just google "fluoride" and you'll see that every "HIV doesn't cause AIDS", "the medical establishment has suppressed my cure for cancer" etc. nutcase opposes flouride, parading a full set of mined quotes out of context and all the other tricks we've come to know so well. And this article has them all. What the heck has gotten into you, Myers, promoting this pseudo-scientific claptrap? Check out some real facts, like

National Cancer Institute
Fluoridated Water: Questions and Answers
http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/3_15.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Recommendations for Using Fluoride to Prevent and Control Dental Caries in the United States
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5014a1.htm

I expect that PZ was just promoting the current issue of Tangled Bank in general, and not vouching for the accuracy of every entry. He's not even hosting the bank this time around.

Also, I rather doubt that the host presumes to assert any sort of editorial authority, much less censorial control, over the submissions--it's seems to be more or less a "self-assembling" phenomenon.

None of which is to question the value of ts's critique of this particular submission.

Right. It's an open submission carnival, with only limited editorial interference. Sometimes these things slip through, and then someone will respond with a cutting rebuttal (I've done it before, and might do it this time, too.)

Some of the comments to the article are helpful to dispel its stream of unsupported assertions, entirely one-sided analysis, and scare tactics. Axiom included this useful link:

http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/fluoride.html

It's worthwhile reading the exchange between Axiom and Steve Pavlina in the comments. Against Axiom's careful logical analysis, a bit like the best of what is offered on this board in response to creationists, Steve offers such howlers as
"Then again maybe I'm just being overly squeamish about drinking stuff scrubbed out of industrial smokestacks".

I expect that PZ was just promoting the current issue of Tangled Bank in general, and not vouching for the accuracy of every entry. He's not even hosting the bank this time around.