The fluoride debate: one more time
Article Abstract:
Since the 1940s, fluoride has been added to toothpaste and the public drinking water to help prevent tooth decay. The rate of tooth decay has been reduced as much as 50 percent in the past 20 years. Scientists do not agree if the decline in tooth decay is actually due to the fluorides in the drinking water. The rate of reduction of tooth decay is lower today than that of the 1950s. Advocates for fluorides say that it is difficult now to get a control group for comparison, that has not been exposed to fluorides. Scientists who oppose the use of fluorides say that the previous studies were biased and the decrease in tooth decay is a consequence of better nutrition and dental hygiene. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviewed the literature on fluoride in 1986, examining such possible adverse effects as carcinogenesis, suppression of the immune system, inhibition of enzymes, undesirable bone growth, and tooth discoloration. The EPA has set the limit for the maximum concentration of fluoride in public drinking water at four parts per million, four times the amount that most towns use in their water. The EPA will examine the literature again in 1990. There is little new data, except for one study that shows preliminary data indicating that fluoride may be a carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent. This finding will be carefully reviewed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1990
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Physicist wins Nobel Peace Prize
Article Abstract:
British physicist Joseph Rotblat, the founder of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, was awarded the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on nuclear disarmament. Rotblat's protests against atomic weapons began when he quit the Manhattan Project in 1944.
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1995
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Dispute splits schizophrenia study: a report that a schizophrenia susceptibility gene may reside on chromosome 6 may say as much about problems of scientific collaboration as about the biology of the disease
Article Abstract:
Molecular biologist Scott Diehl's decision to publish a paper citing evidence about the location of a schizophrenia susceptibility gene angered many. Diehl failed to mention or only briefly acknowledged a number of researchers who contributed to the study.
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1995
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