Utah set to become first state to ban fluoride in public water

Utah is gearing up to make history as the first state to ban fluoride in public water systems if Gov. Spencer Cox signs a bill to prohibit the addition of the tooth decay-fighting mineral.

If signed into law, HB0081 would prevent any individual or political subdivision from adding fluoride “to water in or intended for public water systems.”

Cox, a Republican, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The bill also repeals previous laws related to fluoridated water provisions, including sections about providing fluoridated water upon resident request and under emergency circumstances,” the bill summary reads.

This bill, introduced last month and passed out of the state legislature on Friday, comes as the new federal health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has openly criticized use of the mineral. He linked fluoride to various illnesses, despite major medical associations supporting water fluoridation.

A report published recently in JAMA Pediatrics found a statistically significant association between higher fluoride exposure and lower children’s IQ scores — but the researchers did not suggest that fluoride should be removed from drinking water.

According to the report’s authors, most of the 74 studies they reviewed were low-quality and done in countries other than the United States, such as China, where fluoride levels tend to be much higher, the researchers noted.

An Australian study published last year found no link between early childhood exposure to fluoride and negative cognitive neurodevelopment. Researchers actually found a slightly higher IQ in kids who consistently drank fluoridated water. The levels in Australia are consistent with U.S. recommendations.

Major public health groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Dental Association and the CDC — which says drinking fluoridated water keeps teeth strong and reduces cavities — support adding fluoride to water. 

But the anti-fluoridation movement seems to be gaining popularity, and has been since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and a resulting mistrust of government health policies.

Over 150 towns or counties across the U.S. have voted to keep fluoride out of public water systems or to stop adding it to their water since 2010, according to the Fluoride Action Network, an anti-fluoride group. 

In Florida, the legislation was proposed “to prohibit the addition of any non-water quality additives into the public water supply,” including fluoride. But this bill would still allow private water manufacturers to sell fluoridated water, giving consumers the option to choose.

“If Covid-19 taught us anything, it is that government has the ability to force health decisions without our consent based on emerging facts,” Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said. “Public water systems should be about fresh, clean, safe drinking water — not a means for delivering government prescribed medicine without the consent of the consumer.”