Israel bans water fluoridation

From Douglas Main, in Newsweek:

“On Tuesday of this week (Aug. 26), Israel officially stopped adding fluoride to its water supplies. The decision has “been lauded by various rights groups, but criticized by many in the medical and dental communities as a serious mistake,” as the Times of Israel put it.

The tasteless, colorless chemical is put into water for the purpose of reducing cavities, but critics say that it amounts to mass medication, and forces people to consume the substance whether they want to or not….”

Israel ahead in medical marijuana; Colorado and Washington states have now voted to make marijuana legal

Image via Cannabis Information Network, on FB

From USA Today:

“SAFED, Israel (AP) — Moshe Rute survived the Holocaust by hiding in a barn full of chickens. He nearly lost the use of his hands after a stroke two years ago. He became debilitated by recurring nightmares of his childhood following his wife’s death last year. “But after I found this, everything has been better,” said the 80-year-old, as he gingerly packed a pipe with marijuana. Rute, who lives at the Hadarim nursing home outside of Tel Aviv, is one of more than 10,000 patients who have official government permission to consume marijuana in Israel, a number that has swelled dramatically, up from serving just a few hundred patients in 2005.

Raw milk in Israel — now if we could just get AIPAC behind promoting the raw milk cause in Washington…

From The Jerusalem Post:

“In the inner recesses of Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim neighborhood, a footpath leads to a capacious and open porch, showcasing two things in quantity: five dozen plastic jugs of milk neatly arranged, and a dozen siblings awestruck by the stranger at their fortress veranda. The home-brew peddled here actually puts the pusher at odds with the law of Israel. The contraband is unpasteurized, or “raw” milk, and über-haredi Yoel is the appointed milkman for this pious community.

His efforts are a matter of kashrut.