Ethics Paper Flouride in Water

Fluoride in Drinking Water

Principles of Ethics

Fluoride in Drinking Water

Case Study:

10 year old Janet White from Chicago has been diagnosed with skeletal fluorosis, which is painful and crippling condition of the bones. Janet developed skeletal fluorosis through drinking tap water from her school water fountains and her home tap faucet. There have been 6 other similar cases in the Chicago area all involving children under 12. There have been more than 20 cases involving adults in the last year.

Clearly this is a cause for concern, sadly it’s too late for some people. Many support groups against substances in tap water have been fighting and pushing the EPA to act on this for many years, and only until recently in 2011 has something actually been done. “The new guidelines are slated to become final sometime in the spring and would advise local water utilities to reduce the amount of fluoride in tap water to 0.7 milligrams per liter of water” (Intelligentactile, 2011)

This is some change but not really for the greater good, nor does it do much for the long run as a comment below this article states the following: “Even one half a milligram is 500 parts per billion and far, far, far, far too high. The clear goal for ALL water treatment should be IMO 12 parts per billion. Fluoride should not be allowed by the FDA in any product at a level greater than 12 parts per billion” (Intelligentactile, 2011)

Solving with Kant’s Ethics:

Using the ethics in which Immanuel Kant proposed which are in short moral duty. We find that the right thing to do here would be to reduce the amount of fluoride if not stop the use of fluoride completely in tap water. Moral duty is to do what is right and follow that set of universal laws in which we all have inscribed in our mind. That moral law would be to not harm others. By using fluoride and other toxic chemicals to clean the water, what is being proved is that we don’t care how we clean the water all we care about is doing...