Utah has become the first US state to ban the use of fluoride in its public water, following concerns raised by health secretary Robert F Kennedy that the mineral poses potential health risks.
Governor Spencer Cox signed the ban into law this week, which will go into effect on 7 May. Other states, including Florida and Ohio, are weighing similar legislation.
Fluoride has been added to US drinking water since 1945 to prevent cavities.
Utah’s move to remove the mineral has been criticised by experts, who worry it will have consequences for oral health, especially for children.
The bill, signed by Cox on Thursday, prohibits communities from adding fluoride to their public water supplies.
The law does not mention any public health concerns related to the mineral, but Republican state lawmaker Stephanie Gricius – who introduced the bill in the state legislature – has argued that there is research suggesting fluoride could have possible cognitive effects in children.
Gricius has said
19 Comments
bananapub
truly is astonishing how backwards the US is and how vulnerable society as a whole is the stupidest and loudest amongst it.
dboreham
You can provide your own flouride (live in a house with well water).
jedberg
And dentists rejoiced at their newfound source of income! /s
This is so dumb, and based on psudoscience at best, and straight up falsities at worst.
In 10 years we're going to hear about how cavities are so much higher in Utah than anywhere else.
dataflow
What is the best evidence in favor of this?
kelipso
Way past time. The link between fluoride ingestion by children and pregnant women to lower IQ in children has been known for years. It's incredible how the scientific community in the US is so ignorant of this fact.
Also, dentists have no neuroscience background! So let's take recommendations by dentists to ingest a neurotoxin with deep deep skepticism, shall we?
tayo42
> Republican state lawmaker Stephanie Gricius – who introduced the bill in the state legislature – has argued that there is research suggesting fluoride could have possible cognitive effects in children.
It's kind of amazing to say something like that then be so inconsistent on things that will have real outcomes that make life better for kids. They're all for cutting school support and social services.
BJones12
Note that while this may be first state to ban fluoride, it's not the first state to not have fluoride in the water. That would be Hawaii (effectively).
codybontecou
Hawaii does not add fluoride to their water. Utah may be the first to out-right ban it, but there are quite a few local communities and cities that opt-out of adding it to their drinking water.
https://chatgpt.com/share/67e8572d-c5f4-8000-9393-c2e894c922…
jiggawatts
I initially dismissed it as the same category of stupid as anti-vax beliefs, but it turns out that there are a decent amount of good studies showing a link between fluoride in water and (slightly) lower IQ when pregnant mothers ingest the fluoride. Note that there is no significant effect after birth.
The idea is to remove fluoride from water and advise pregnant women to use fluoride-free toothpaste.
Everyone else can get enough fluoride from modern toothpastes, or regular dentist treatments.
The logic is that fluoride in tap water made sense in the era before toothpaste had it, but now it is “overmedicating” a vulnerable fraction of the population.
habosa
I’m disappointed in the news media fails to mention the cascading effects of dental health. Yes, the primary and direct benefit of fluoride is to have a healthier mouth.
But having a healthy mouth is far from the end goal, imo. If your mouth is full of cavities you’re more likely to build up bacteria that cause downstream effects as serious as heart disease. Also if your mouth is routinely uncomfortable you may gravitate towards soft processed foods and away from healthy whole foods like fresh fruits and vegetables.
I know water is not the only way to get fluoride into people. But these politicians who are trying to take it out of the water are just saying basically “it’s fine, let’s do nothing”. They’re not going to fluoridate the salt. They’re not going to run public health campaigns stressing the importance of regular brushing. They’re just willing to let people’s teeth rot to score points.
It’s disgusting, and no matter how you feel about the water you should be able to see that these people are not on your side.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in…
freehorse
This is one of these US-specific polarised debates I find really bizarre, around some kind of issue that the rest of the world has by large solved but without any acknowledgement of this fact. Maybe the US should look into how other countries have solved it? It is completely bizarre witnessing both sides getting so polarised around a basically non-issue.
ourmandave
Does filtering your water with a whole house filter take the fluoride out?
Because I live in a small township that delivers well water to you tap. It tastes horrible, shortens the life of pipes and appliances, and smells like sulfur.
Every year they mail a flyer that explains how the lead levels are dangerously above the national standard and you should run the tap before you drink from it.
Like, sorry there's nothing we can do about it. =(
ein0p
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adrr
Utah has naturally occurring fluoride in their water and some water systems its more than double(2.0mg/l) what they add to prevent dental issues. Why were they fluorinating their water?
https://cascadefamily.com/images/WaterFluoridationLevelsUtah…
efitz
It is trivial today to get whatever level of fluoride is recommended for dental health, via toothpaste. So there is no compelling need to fluoridate as there exist viable alternatives to achieve the same that fluoridation is for any other purpose than dental health.
In the USA, dental care is not covered by public insurance, and is an optional add-on to insurance through one’s employer.
So without addressing at all whether fluoridation is effective or safe, there doesn’t seem to be any compelling need to fluoridate public water, and there’s no economic down side for the public if governments choose not to do so.
Given this, why not just leave people alone to make their own choices? If the citizens in a city or state want to fluoridate the public water supply, then do so; if they choose not to, then leave them alone. It’s a free country and voters are grownups; let them choose for themselves.
If you live in a place that chooses the choice you dislike but for some reason fluoridated public water supply is a critical issue for you, either campaign to change it or vote with your feet.
This issue just doesn’t seem important enough to me to spend any effort arguing either way.
ryao
Fluoride in Toothpaste: Do not ingest.
Flouride in Water: Ingest away.
I do not understand how these two can co-exist.
JKCalhoun
Pretty sure I read that fluoridation is a communist plot to undermine American public health [1].
Sorry, that was the John Birch Society from the 1960's.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_water_fluoridati…
(I'm having some fun, but it is in fact the first thing that comes to mind when I hear objections to fluoridated water. Since we're talking about RFK and Utah, I kind of assume it more or less stems from the same fears.)
russellbeattie
Fluoridation is literally one of the most successful efforts at improving public health in history. Dental health is keystone to general health.
The idea that the conspiracy theorists are winning the public policy debate enrages me. There's rock solid proof of the benefits of fluoridation extending decades, and there is little to no proof of any adverse side effects.
Oh well, good luck Utah. I'm glad I don't live there, but if I were a young dentist, I know where I'd set up my new practice.
lunarboy
According to these "it lowers kids IQ" people, is the average IQ of Hawaiian kids higher than other states?