This year’s 70 Days Project looks at informed consent, in public health and in governance. What happens when errors and omissions go unaddressed? Beyond the City of Lincoln reducing the chemically-added fluoride in our water by another point is a vote to remove the chemical from our water altogether and to further expand government oversight […]
Category: Analysis & Comment
About 20 students from UNL’s Future Healers honors program attended Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Board of Health. A report on the state of public health in Lincoln and Lancaster County was on the agenda, presented by Health Department Director, Kerry Kernen. Infant mortality, access to care, and immunizations rates were among the […]
Revised 4/16/26, 6/3/26 Topics highlights May 22, 2026 fluoride update from the City of Lincoln, lowering target fluoride level to 0.65 mg/L Lincoln Transportation & Utilities Director, Elizabeth Elliott, emailed the following in response to my request to lower the bottom-end fluoride treatment range to 0.6 mg/L, “As you know, we are required to follow […]
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Scientific Consensus
“I’m not interested in medical pedigree. I’m interested in medical consensus… in scientific consensus… the individual scientist does not matter.” And… “Follow the new emergent truth.” Neil deGrass Tyson The Highwire. Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet – Offline: What is medicine’s 5 sigma? The Lancet, April, 11, 2015 “The case against science is straightforward: much […]
On March 12, seven people spoke in support of State Sen. Ben Hansen’s Legislative Bill 147, including Stuart Cooper, Executive Director of the Fluoride Action Network and six Nebraskans. Online comments: 53 proponents, 105 opponents, 1 neutral. Nine representatives testified in opposition to the bill including representatives from the dental industry, Nebraska DHHS and the […]
“Regarding the cautionary statement, we did seek guidance from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Board of Health on this item which was discussed at their February 11th meeting. At that meeting, it was recommended that a statement was not necessary based on the most current research and fluoride policy recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Pediatric Physicians. Accordingly, this statement was not included in the 2024 water quality report.” Quote from LTU response
At the Tuesday Ag Committee hearing, Senator DeKay presented LB246, to prohibit cultivated-protein food products under the Nebraska Pure Food Act and provide a deceptive trade practice. My goal is to bring awareness to our choices and to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the current paradigm with a personal story. I provided a copy of my […]
LB 203 would require health directors to obtain health board approval prior to initiating directed health measures. I opposed the bill as it expands public health governance when a holistic healthcare model could better complement the current public health approach. Using a Resolution to Shift the Direction of Public Health in Nebraska, I asked, instead, […]
On Tuesday, Senator Carol Bosn presented LB4, Adopt the Telecommunications Exchange Deregulation Act, to the Nebraska Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, explaining that the bill only applies to land-line communications, old copper phone lines. My comments to the committee regarding the impact of deregulated wireless communications, below, were prepared based on the text of the […]
Effective Monday, 1/20/2025, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) amended its 1983 fluoride regulation under Title 179, Chapter 1, regarding fluoridation of public water systems. The amendments are designed to align state regulations with federal recommendations set in 2011. This update includes changes to the maximum allowable fluoride concentrations and procedures for […]