Comment by christianqchung
21 days ago
Radioactive isotopes in nuclear fuel: do not ingest.
Radioactive isotopes in banana: consume away.
Understand now? I'm not even defending anything other than how two things that vaguely appear contradictory, are in fact, not.
I don’t.
Because your banana example doesn’t have additives meant to be reactive — so is unlike adding fluoride to water at levels which impact dental health.
It's the concentration that matters. Toothpaste has over 1000x the concentration of fluoride vs 0.7mg/L as tap water. Many well water sources have naturally occurring fluoride that exceeds the additive levels.
Very low concentrations of medicine are usually ineffective at its stated purpose outside of pseudo scientific theories, so even if it is safe to ingest, it is not clear it is able to do anything for people’s teeth.
That is why I do not understand how the two can co-exist. Either the concentration is so low that drinking it for dental health is pointless, or it is not something people should be drinking. If there was a middle ground, we would have a 1 a day pill for this and not bother brushing our teeth or putting fluoride in water.
5 replies →
Maybe another example will help?
Chlorine for water treatment in the backcountry when applied to a liter of water: Ingest.
Chlorine straight from a household bleach bottle: Do not ingest.
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