Ignoring medical professionals, Health and Public Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned fluoride from public water Thursday after Utah took the same action in March. At least five other states are paying attention to similar bans.
"Yes, using fluoride for teeth is good, but forcing it in the water supply is basically a forced drug to people," DeSantis said. "They have no choice and you take it away from them."
Kennedy said last month that he would tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending fluoride — the process of adding fluoride to drinking water — has been shown to prevent tooth decay. He also said he was working on a working group to study fluoride in drinking water. On the same day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which sets the allowable fluoride levels in water, said it was reviewing "new scientific information" about fluoride risks.
The HHS chief said Utah was the “leader to make America healthy again” after the state banned public drinking water for fluoride.
"I'm very proud that this country is the first state to ban it and I hope there is more willingness," he said.
Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska and South Carolina are also looking for fluoride bans. According to the Associated Press, Portland, Oregon voted to ban fluoride in 1956, and at least 734 water supply systems have stopped fluoride in the last six years.
The Food and Drug Administration, which is part of the HHS, announced this week that it has begun removing fluoride-containing supplements from children on shelves. "The end of the use of edible fluoride has expired," Kennedy said in a press release.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that has been a huge success in improving dental health for Americans. In 1999, the CDC called the fluorination of drinking water one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first city in the United States to flood drinking water in 1945. The discovery of this experiment is a major breakthrough. Tooth loss is a preventable disease for most people. Federal officials recognized fluoride in 1950.
Elon Musk's so-called government efficiency ministry cuts eliminated the CDC's oral health ministry, which has issued guidelines for fluorination.
Local governments are also studying fluoride bans. In Florida, Miami-Dade County is watching such a resolution, and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava rejected it.
"Fluorination is a safe, effective and effective way to maintain dental health in our county - stopping it can have long-term health consequences, especially for our most vulnerable families," Levine Cava said in a statement. The Commissioner voted for her veto.
In a November article on X, Kennedy said that Trump will push for the removal of fluoride from drinking water, which has not happened yet. "On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all of us to remove fluoride from public water," he wrote. "Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, fractures, bone cancer, loss of IQ, neurodevelopmental diseases and thyroid diseases."
Fluoride can be a by-product of industrial waste, but this is not its main definition. The CDC said it was “natural discovery of nearly all soil and water, as well as many rocks.” Excessive fluoride is associated with bone fluorosis, a skeletal disease. The fluoride levels are much higher than those of hypothyroidism.
Last year, a federal judge ordered the EPA to issue more regulations on fluoride in drinking water, based on the risks that higher levels of fluoride can pose to children.
The HHS report, found earlier last year, was “with modest confidence,” which is twice the recommended limit, and is associated with lower IQ in children.
Experts say Kennedy unilaterally told the CDC that the plan to stop recommending fluorination is unorthodox.
"If you're really serious, you're not only going to come in and change it," Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University, told the Associated Press. "You ask people like the National Academy of Sciences to do research and then follow their advice."