Karen Landman

Karen, did you ever do any, like, theater as a young person? I did. Good. Yes, I knew it. Okay, guys, I have pulled a section from your piece. It is two lines. Yeah. And I'm going to have you read those lines with feeling and with nuance. This will come at the top of the show in the billboard. It's going to be your voice coming out. Wow. Amanda, can we get those lines to Karen?

All right, so it's wonderful news. The kids' teeth are getting better. Where and when do the conspiracies about fluoride in the water start?

How does the mistrust about fluoride develop in the ensuing years?

I'm Noelle King. Dr. Karen Landman did not make it as an actor. Instead, she's a senior health and medicine reporter at Vox. She is also a physician and an epidemiologist. Karen, what is this job? Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

What is the attitude of science toward fluoride in the water, and how does that evolve?

Huh. And then do they?

Where is the science on this today? What do we know we know? And what do we know we don't know yet?

We learned in the first half of the show that RFK can't just go and take the fluoride out of the water. Cities, municipalities have to make that decision. We also talked in the first half of the show about the problem of RFK being he does have some good points. And I'm not a conspiracy theorist.

But I read a piece like yours and I found myself thinking, huh, if I were a parent, where my brain might go is it is going to be easier to fix my kids' teeth than it is to fix my kids' brain if fluoride does something to their development.

Michael Shulson of Undark Magazine. Amanda Llewellyn produced today's show. Jolie Myers edited. Patrick Boyd and Rob Byers engineered. Laura Bullard aggressively checked the facts. Special thanks to Michael Schenck out walking the streets and asking the questions. I'm Noelle King. It's Today Explained.

And we're told that RFK is an unorthodox pick for this job. What makes him so unorthodox?

You have not said the word vaccines yet, but I feel like that's what we're headed toward. Talk to me about this gentleman's history of vaccine skepticism. Where does it start?

Okay.

What are some of his other ideas that don't overlap with the scientific consensus?

So I feel like the most controversial thing you could say about RFK is not that he's totally right or he's totally wrong, but this guy has some good ideas. And truthfully, am I in that camp? Perhaps. Where does he overlap with the scientific consensus?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary. It's coming up on Today Explained.

If he is confirmed, if RFK Jr. is confirmed, what are likely to be his priorities?

What does RFK's rise say about the way Americans now think about science and about public health? There does seem to be something bigger afoot here, and he seems to be representative of that bigger thing.

Vox senior reporter Karen Landman. She's also a doctor. Coming up, why are so many Americans skeptical about fluoride? And we're going to come right out and ask it, do they have a point? Support for Today Explained comes from Koala. There are lots of awesome things, says Koala, that have come out of Australia. On the beach, the book, not the movie, Joel Edgerton, Wake in Fright. Who wrote this?

And now, says Koala, you should also consider Koala. Koala says they make the most comfortable mattresses with Instagram-worthy color options inspired by the Australian Outback. Unlike traditional sofa beds, Koalas are designed just for comfort. We'll be right back. Support for the show comes from Mercury.

It's Today Explained. We're back this time with Michael Schulzen of Undark Magazine. He's a reporter and editor there.

Michael's recent writing is about fluoride. The science on fluoride is not settled. Many public health experts in the dental community love it. But a small number of experts in the toxicology community have been asking questions about negative effects on developing brains.