Ugh, just ugh:
Sound familiar? Sure does for me:
I wish politicians would call these type of people out as the nuts they are, instead of twisting these questions into something that actually sounds sane (like a general question on pollutants). And it’s sad that the myth about mercury and autism survives to this day. If you want a good read about that, check out this article in Discover magazine.
Thankfully, this was the only real nut that attended the Fredericksburg town hall meeting unlike the meeting in Warsaw (still need to post video of some of those questions).
You should not label that lady as a nut job. She appeared at a public forum and asked a legitimate question regarding the individual and synergistic effects of both pre and post treatment chemicals in our water supply.
As for the autism issue: That studies conducted so far have been, “inconclusive” with regard to a link between Mercury and autism, does not mean that future studies may or may not, reveal something new. Magazines such as Discover, Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, are not authoritative sources, but provide a diluted summary of certain recent discussions from the medical and scientific communities.
The lady at Mary Washington was asking about the cause of autism, and recalled hearing something about Mercury being researched as a cause. I am sure that the Autism foundation is glad to see public awareness of Autism has reached such a high level (regardless of opinions as to causes among the citizens), but the bottom line is, we still don’t know what causes the disease, or why there has been such a rise in the cases since the 1970s. Personally, I suspect birth control pills, but even mention that, and a firestorm erupts. Perhaps they can blame Nixon for this; I am sure someone already has.
In the 1950s the big scare was over Fluoridation. Some communities voted not to add Fluoride to public drinking water, calling the idea a Communist plot. Now we have learned that, while Fluoride in drinking water appears to have a benefit in strengthening teeth, too much Fluoride has been pointed to as a catalyst for increasing rates of arterial plaque.
Having the EPA and their state level counterparts monitor the rates of chemicals, especially known carcinogens, in our water supply is good public policy, and citizens with questions about what is in the water and what effects it may have on future generations, should receive thoughtful and well researched answers from their representatives.
Public forums, where questions are picked at random or where there is no structure to the subjects to be discussed, invite what you might view as nutty questions. However, this water quality issue is a legitimate concern to many Virginians.
A good solution to solving the problem of targeting issues discussions at town halls, is to have staff sort through the questions/issues prior to the event and combine several questions together, then have a guest read the synopsis of the question(s) followed by a brief answer from the Congressman. The individual questions that went into the synopsis, could then be answered via the web on an individual or collective basis.
Town hall style meetings are terribly inefficient, but the citizens like to see and hear their representatives, in person, and to a certain extent, some folks will be seen as asking time-wasting questions by those who hoped to hear about some other subject.
She’s not crazy.
There is a lot of research showing the problems of mercury, fluoride, and chlorine in water supply. All of them are poisons lol. Even fluoride, which people typically think of as being important for keeping teeth healthy actually has been shown to increase depressive symptoms (for a fact) in certain animals, and there are many many many less conclusive studies showing more harmful affects to brain function.
I for one would hope we get of fluoride immediately, as there aren’t a whole lot of choices for tap water suppliers because it is a natural monopoly. Philosophically, it takes away our ability to make choices with what we put in our bodies. It was actually outlawed in Holland via a courtcase. You will notice that there are now national societies for the prevention of autism finally stating the dangers that chemicals in our water supply really can cause. It’s a pretty big deal, even if it sounds like a plot from a batman movie.
At the very least, I try to be open minded even when there are people we call “nuts” just because we still have so much to learn on and improve upon as a species and a society. Best not to ignore, and certainly not to make fun of these things.