Robert Kennedy's Home Water Fluoridation System

Bottle of Stannous Fluoride, SnF₂

Water fluoridation is the process of increasing the concentration of fluoride ions in drinking water to reduce the incidence of tooth decay.

Dentists and public health experts find it useful for reducing tooth decay. It partially converts apatite to fluoroapatite in tooth enamel, making it more resistant to acids produced by bacteria.

Raving lunatics see it as "Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

May 1955 poster from the "Keep America Committee" claiming that water fluoridation is a communist plot.

Here's a poster from May 1955 from the Keep America Committee claiming that water fluoridation is a communist plot.

You can see that they're also against polio serum, suggesting that they are in favor of polio for some reason.

"Down with water fluoridation!"

"Down with polio vaccination!"

"Bring back the iron lung!"

But if that isn't enough conspiracy theory for you, the National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore, Maryland, USA has a home water fluoridation system that was installed around 1960 in the home of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Below is a picture of the fluoridator and my transcription of the explanatory placard. This is only marginally connected to the theme of these pages, but it's my call. Unusual plumbing that I have seen, plus a tie-in to amusingly nutty conspiracy theories.

This prototype apparatus to fluoridate a home water supply was installed around 1960 in the home of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in McLean, Virginia. The Kennedy household was selected for the trial because of the number of small children whose teeth would benefit from fluoridated water. The devices was found to be inefficient and difficult to maintain.

Gift of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters is a fascinating description of sanitation conditions around the world. "2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. [....] Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box. [....] Poor sanitation, bad hygiene, and unsafe water — usually unsafe because it has fecal particles in it — cause one in ten of the world's illnesses. [....] Diarrhea — nearly 90 percent of which is caused by fecally contaminated food or water — kills a child every fifteen seconds. The number of children who have died from diarrhea in the last decade [1998-2008] exceeds the total number of people killed by armed conflict since the Second World War.

In September 2009, Morna Gregory and Sian James published a book titled Toilets of the World. It's pretty much the same theme that you find here — photographs and commentary on other people's plumbing.

The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet, by Julie Horan, contends that civilization began with the toilet.

Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, edited by Laura Noren and Harvey Molotch, has essays by anthropologists, sociologists, and architects on the importance of the toilet, especially for urban dwellers.

Latrinae Et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World describes the toilets of the Roman Empire from Iberia to Syria, and from North Africa to Hadrian's Wall in Britannia.

Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers: A History of the Bathroom, explains the history of personal cleanliness and hygiene to children in grades 5-8.

If you're not bored yet, you might be interested in (or at least tolerate):

• Travel suggestions
• To Bob's main site