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August 5, 2010
from
PreventDisease Website
In 2008, Julian Savulescu, a professor respected for his work in
bioethics, wrote a piece advising Health Secretary Alan Johnson
on
adding fluoride to tap water. Savulescu believes that government has
a duty to promote, among other things, the “cognitive enhancement”
of humanity.
Yes, Savulescu referenced “cognitive enhancement” when discussing
the government tampering with your water. And I say your water,
because the professor suggested the roll all governments ought to
play, in his opinion. And he sees governments being a guiding hands
in human evolution. This isn’t just about tap water in the UK.
It seems to me that the renewed conversation about fluoridated water
is actually a part of the larger general discussion of government
intervention into the health of the private class.
We are living at a time when the political class, more and more, has
been taking it upon themselves to dictate the day to day health of
the private class. I say dictate, because in my opinion health is
being legislated – with little choice given to the private class.
It’s not the fluoride I am worried about. It’s the fact that
government feels free to put chemicals in the water that have
nothing to do with water purity. It’s only a matter of time before
the members of the political class, who have far too much power,
start experimenting with “enhancements” that go far beyond just
teeth.
And when we have government being openly advised to start looking
beyond teeth when considering public water additives, we have to
worry. Government can easily shift from public health en messe to
programs of public “enhansement” en masse.
In his letter, Julian Savulescu, a professor at Oxford University,
is suggesting that it is the duty of the State to oversee the
evolutionary progress of all of humanity. He points to government
campaigns to remove lead, and then points to government programs
that already drop fluoride into the tap water; and then he asks,
essentially, “why stop there?”
To me, the point is not whether or not fluoride is harmful in the
correct doses –
which is usually where the conversation leads. It’s
whether or not government should be [messing] around with your water
at all.
To quote Jonah Goldberg:
“Even if the government only wants to hug,
is still tyranny if you don’t want to be hugged.”
And the State will use force, if necessary, to give you that hug.
So here is some of what this man, a respected professor of
bioethics, said.
Taken from
his 2008 article:
Fluoridation is the tip of the enhancement iceberg. Science is
progressing fast to develop safe and effective cognitive enhancers,
drugs which will improve our mental abilities. For years, people
have used crude enhancers, usually to promote wakefulness, like
nicotine, caffeine and amphetamines.
A new generation of more
effective enhancers is emerging,
-
modafenil
-
ritalin
-
Adderral
-
ampakines,
...and the piracetam family of memory improvers.
It seems likely that widespread population level cognitive
enhancement will be irresistible. Studies based on removing lead,
which reduces cognitive ability, from the water and paint, have
estimated that a 3 point IQ increase would lead to:
The US military already employs modafenil and Ritalin for its pilots
in Iraq, to improve their performance. It has a vigorous program
of developing and testing human enhancers.
One spokesperson recently
said:
“The world contains approximately 4.2 billion people over the age of
twenty. Even a small enhancement of cognitive capacity in these
individuals would probably have an impact on the world economy
rivaling that of the internet.”
http://www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/sttr08A/army08A.htm
Fluoridation may not merely be about tooth decay.
It may be about
the future of humanity and the drive to be better. Current enhancers
are not suitable for population level distribution. But drugs to
improve working memory and other select aspects of cognition may be.
We may not just want whiter teeth, but to be smarter. A government
which refuse to enhance its population might well be effectively
disabling it.
What government would refuse its citizens access to
the internet?
As you can see, fluoride in water is about more than just teeth.
It’s about members of the political class who are on a power trip,
and see themselves as ‘tweaking’ humanity. Or rather, they see
themselves as ‘enhancing’ humanity.
By the way, from a quick read of some of Julian Savulescu’s opinion,
I get the sense that he is a big time eugenicist who doesn’t even
recognize the individual. He isn’t even capable of recognizing
individual liberty, because he only sees humanity as a broad,
faceless collective.
Among the many ideas and programs suggested by Julian Savulescu,
he
has argued…
That parents have a responsibility to select the best children they
could have given all of the relevant genetic information available
to them, a principle that he extends to the use of in-vitro
fertilization (IVF) and pre-implantation genetic diagnoses (PGD) in
order to determine the intelligence of embryos and possible
children.
As more and more government bodies take it upon themselves to know
what is best for the so-called “general health,” will governments
begin adding more than just fluoride to our tap water?
I think yes
because, to quote Congressman Pete Stark,
“the Federal Government
can do most anything it wants.”
Or at least, that’s what many within today’s political class
believe.
For those that want more info, Julian Savulescu’s 2008 article ends
with links to the following sources. The “ENHANCE Project" site has
been taken down. The 3rd url is a download for a pdf; a 40 page on
“Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Enhancement of Human
Beings.”
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