[streaming]

Most people are deficient in iodine. We don't eat a lot of iodine rich foods, and commercial farming techniques have depleted soils of many minerals and elements. Tissues in the body that should be absorbing and storing iodine, which is an essential element for thyroid hormone, will preferentially store bromine. Bromine has also been used to make flame retardant fabrics, carpet, furniture, etc. Avoid it.

[TheCleric]

> Bromine has also been used to make flame retardant fabrics, carpet, furniture, etc.

While this argument feels right, chemically it makes no sense. You can do this with any element. It’s the same as saying you shouldn’t drink water because it has hydrogen and oxygen which are used as rocket fuel.

[streaming]

No, it's not the same. Molecules act very differently than the individual elements that make the molecule. Water does not behave similarly to hydrogen or oxygen, and humans aren't plants, which can break water into component elements. What happens to the bromine when humans ingest brominated vegetable oil? Something very different than what happens when we ingest water, which always stays stable as a water molecule.

[scentoni]

Water famously does not always stay stable as a water molecule and in fact has extremely complex behavior. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-ionization_of_water

[galangalalgol]

I have read that for the same reasons we preferentially uptake flourine from toothpaste and water. It does prevent cavities though.

[streaming]

True. Fluoridated water does more harm than good.