Perhaps this has been discredited or never proved, but it was out there.
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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905404,00.html
[font size=5]The Nation: The Texas Tranquilizer – TIME[/font]
(subscription needed. It’s quoted in the link below this one. )
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#1-2
[font size=5]Lithium in the Water Supply[/font]
America has been adding fluoride to its public water supplies for decades, based on overwhelming evidence that even low levels of the substance can significantly reduce tooth decay, with no major side effects. Now research from Japan suggests expanding the list of aqueous additives — namely, to lithium.
Lithium often occurs naturally, in trace amounts, in water supplies, particularly in areas with a high concentration of granite. In The British Journal of Psychiatry earlier this year, the neuropsychiatrist Takeshi Terao and other researchers showed that communities in Japan's Oita Prefecture with higher levels of naturally occurring lithium in their water supplies had fewer suicides than those with lower levels. The amounts range between 0.7 and 59 micrograms per liter. Lithium in prescription doses (say, 600 to 900 milligrams) helps reduce mood swings in patients with bipolar disorder, but Terao and his colleagues speculate that drinking even small amounts over time has a cumulative effect, building up a resistance to the onset of mood swings in the first place. The researchers note that more work is needed before public-policy makers can consider adding lithium to water supplies. Lithium, after all, can be toxic, and though the levels in the Oita study are too low to have an immediate effect, the element can affect kidney function and cause long-term health problems. "I think we need to be wary of introducing something across the board, because it does take time to work out what the side effects are," says Sophie Corlett, director of external relations at Mind, a British mental-health organization.
Nevertheless, Terao and his team contend that the lithium levels in their study are low enough not to cause significant side effects, and that in any case the benefits outweigh the risks. In a follow-up paper, they even posited that adding lithium to drinking water could "potentially offer an easy, cheap and substantial strategy for worldwide suicide prevention." But Corlett remains wary. "Mass inoculations of one sort or another always seem to be the easy answer, but we shouldn't assume that's the case," she says — especially because "lithium isn't a very friendly drug." CLAY RISEN
(Below is a Comment to the 3 paragraphs linked immediately above: )
Here's an article about lithium in the El Paso water supply, entitled "The Texas Tranquilizer" from Time Magazine's archives, dated October 4, 1971:
" By legend Texans are a grandiose breed with more than the natural share of megalomaniacs. But University of Texas Biochemist Earl B. Dawson thinks that he detects an uncommon pocket of psychological adjustment around El Paso. The reason, says Dawson, lies in the deep wells from which the city draws its water supply.
" According to Dawson's studies of urine samples from 3,000 Texans, El Paso's water is heavily laced with lithium, a tranquilizing chemical widely used in the treatment of manic depression and other psychiatric disorders. He notes that Dallas, which has low lithium levels because it draws its water from surface supplies, has "about seven times more admissions to state mental hospitals than El Paso." But state mental health officials point out that the mental hospital closest to Dallas is 35 miles from the city, while the one nearest El Paso is 350 miles away—and the long distance could affect admission figures.
" But FBI statistics show that while Dallas had 5,970 known crimes per 100,000 population last year, El Paso had 2,889 per 100,000. Dallas (pop. 844,000) had 242 murders, El Paso (pop. 323,000) only 13. Dr. Frederick Goodwin, an expert on lithium studies for the National Institute of Mental Health, doubts that "lithium has these magical properties in the population." Others are not so sure. If lithium does have anything to do with the relative peace in El Paso, what would it do for other cities like New York and Chicago?"
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= new reply since forum marked as read
