Recap

Dangers of Fluoride

Editor of the newsletter, What Doctors Don’t Tell You, Lynne McTaggart laid out the dangers of fluoride use which have been generally ignored by health professionals and communities at large. "It's a rat poison," McTaggart said of fluoride which is added to the water supply of two thirds of America's cities. It's also in toothpaste, and in many other products one wouldn't suspect, such as canned beverages, baby food, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides, she said.

McTaggart said numerous studies show that fluoride does not prevent tooth decay, and in some cases actually contributes to poor dental health. Additionally, some studies have shown that children in communities that have higher levels of fluoride in their water have up to 10% lower IQs, than in locations with lower levels of the chemical. This kind of "mass medication" doesn't take into account "bio-individuality," and is particularly harsh on children, she indicated.

By banding with other anti-fluoride groups, of which there is a growing number, people can make their voices heard to oppose local fluoridation efforts, McTaggart suggested. On an individual level, she advised using a "reverse osmosis" filtration system on your water faucet, as well as choosing toothpastes that don't contain fluoride.

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Homeopathic Cure?

When I interviewed tonight's guest Lynne McTaggart for After Dark back in 2002, she told me as the editor of health newsletters she looks at "medical literature and determines what is actually proven about conventional and alternative medicine [and] what works and doesn't work." It was studies of homeopathy and other alternative approaches that actually led her to begin putting together the thesis for her groundbreaking book, The Field.

Homeopathy which seems to defy traditional scientific practices was first used by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnermann, back in the 18th century, who tested hundreds of plant, animal, and chemical substances on himself and noted his reactions. What is curious about the remedies is they often involve a very diluted amount of the original substance, sometimes containing less than a molecule of it.

But an article in the latest Psychology Today points out that subjects receiving homeopathic remedies have in numerous studies shown significantly faster recoveries from certain illnesses than those receiving a placebo. And yet organizations such as the National Council Against Health Fraud persist in associating homeopathy with quackery.

"I believe new science will explain how homeopathy works," Ellen Feingold, a pediatrician turned homeopath, told Psychology Today. And that is precisely what McTaggart has begun to do in The Field, illuminating the quantum connections that run through physics, biology and parapsychology.

--L.L.