Forced Medication
Posted by on Friday, September 21st, 2012To my knowledge, it’s never illegal to refuse to be medicated. However, it is certainly possible to lose your job for refusing to be medicated (especially if you work in a hospital and don’t prefer to get a flu shot). I also understand that military personnel are often forced into certain vaccinations at risk of losing their jobs if they refuse. It is also almost impossible to avoid being medicated by those who think they know what is best.
The last major US city to avoid fluoridation of its drinking water has recently changed their position. On Wednesday, Portland, Oregon’s city council voted to fluoridate the city’s drinking water.
As I understand it, the council voted unanimously to adopt fluoridation practices. The vote was 5-0. In other words, five citizens from Portland decided that everyone in the city (almost 600,000 people) needs to be medicated.
Does fluoride have its benefits. Yes. There have been studies that show decreased risk of cavities in children ages 5-9. Beyond that, the case is “incredibly thin” in favor of forced fluoridation of drinking water. Of course, since it has been shown to benefit children, it’s not a big surprise to me that this was passed. Almost all new legislation/guidelines/regulations I write about have something to do with protecting children.
Besides being immoral to forcibly medicate individuals, this is also a slap in the face to taxpayers. They will be forced to pay for this “service” without having the privilege of voting on whether they even want the service. Surely fluoride isn’t free!
If you live in a city that fluoridates the drinking water, there’s little you can do to avoid it. First of all, you can get a whole house reverse osmosis system installed (by a company like Culligan) or you can get drinking water filters like Berkey. I, personally, have not done this, but I plan to. I do, however, avoid fluoridated toothpaste. I figure at age 33, the alleged benefits of fluoride have disappeared for me.
Remember, probably the best way to avoid cavities is to stop eating sugar! Our caveman ancestors didn’t have many cavities, and they didn’t drink fluoride. But, they also didn’t eat bread, candy, or ice cream.
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