US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water.
Kennedy, a staunch anti-vaxxer, said he’s assembling a task force of health experts to study the mineral-enriched water issue – after he called fluoride a ‘dangerous neurotoxin.’
On Monday, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced it is reviewing ‘new scientific information’ on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water. Kennedy held a news conference with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in Salt Lake City.
The EPA sets the maximum level allowed in public water systems.
Kennedy cannot order communities to stop fluoridation, but he can direct the CDC to stop recommending it and work with the EPA to change the allowed amount.
Utah last month became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, pushing past opposition from dentists and national health organizations who warned the move would disproportionately hurt low-income residents who can’t afford regular dentist visits.
Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the cavity-preventing mineral to their drinking water. Water systems across Utah must stop fluoridation by May 7.
Kennedy praised the Beehive State for emerging as ‘the leader in making America healthy again.’ He was flanked by Utah legislative leaders and the sponsor of the state’s fluoride law.
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday said he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and in 1962 they set guidelines for how much should be added to water
People protested before a press conference about Utah’s new fluoride ban with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Salt Lake City
‘I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban it, and I hope many more will,’ he said.
Kennedy oversees the CDC, whose recommendations are widely followed but not mandatory.
State and local governments decide whether to add fluoride to water and, if so, how much – as long as it doesn’t exceed a maximum set by the EPA, which is currently 4 milligrams per liter.
Zeldin said his agency was launching a renewed examination of scientific studies on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water to help inform any changes to the national standards.
‘When this evaluation is completed, we will have an updated foundational scientific evaluation that will inform the agency’s future steps,’ Zeldin said.
‘Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this issue. His advocacy was instrumental in our decision to review fluoride exposure risks, and we are committed to working alongside him, utilizing sound science as we advance our mission of protecting human health and the environment.’
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the CDC.
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and in 1962 they set guidelines for how much should be added to water.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the CDC
Dentists and national health organizations warn the move to remove fluoride will disproportionately hurt low-income residents who can’t afford regular dentist visits
Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has called fluoride a ‘dangerous neurotoxin’ and said it has been associated with arthritis, bone breaks and thyroid disease.
Some studies have suggested such links might exist, usually at higher-than-recommended fluoride levels, though some reviewers have questioned the quality of available evidence and said no definitive conclusions can be drawn.
In November, just days before the presidential election, Kennedy declared Donald Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day as president.
That didn’t happen, but Trump later picked Kennedy to run the US Department of Health and Human Services, where he has been expected to take some kind of action.
Meanwhile, some localities have gone ahead with deciding whether to keep adding fluoride.
Meanwhile, a massive round of staffing cuts last week across federal agencies included elimination of the CDC’s 20-person Division of Oral Health.
That office managed grants to local agencies to improve dental health and, in some cases, encourage fluoridation.
Fluoride can come from a number of sources, but drinking water is the main one for Americans, researchers say.
Nearly two-thirds of the US population gets fluoridated drinking water, according to CDC data.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits University of Utah to discuss Utah’s new fluoride ban and food additives legislation in Salt Lake City on Monday
Utah will be the first US state to ban fluoride in public drinking water from May
The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
About one-third of community water systems – 17,000 out of 51,000 across the U.S. – fluoridated their water, according to a 2022 CDC analysis.
The agency currently recommends 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.
But over time, studies have documented potential problems. Too much fluoride has been associated with streaking or spots on teeth.
Studies also have traced a link between excess fluoride and brain development.
A report last year by the federal government’s National Toxicology Program, which summarized studies conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico, concluded that drinking water with more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter was associated with lower IQ in children.
A major study has found that fluoride in drinking water can lower a child’s IQ and it could ‘double the number of people classified as intellectually disabled’
The American Dental Association said decades of fluoride in drinking water have been shown to reduce tooth decay.
The group said it was willing to help conduct high-quality studies to settle the issue.
‘When government officials like Secretary Kennedy stand behind the commentary of misinformation and distrust peer-reviewed research, it is injurious to public health,’ said the association’s president, Brett Kessler.
Utah Oral Health Coalition chairperson Lorna Koci said on Monday that she hopes other states push back against the removal of fluoride and that Kennedy’s visit to celebrate her state’s fluoride ban underscores the political motivations of those who support it.
‘This seems to be less about fluoride and more about power,’ Koci said. ‘Fluoridation is the the most cost effective way to prevent tooth decay on a large scale.
‘I think the anti-fluoride people, they’re latching onto Kennedy’s opportunity with his beliefs and using that now as a way to kind of get in the door to stop water fluoridation,’ she added.
Koci also said that fluoridated public water is often the only form of preventive dental care for some people, and the impacts may be most visible in low-income Utah residents.
Utah ranked 44th in the nation as of 2022 for the percentage of residents receiving fluoridated water, according to CDC.
Out of the 484 Utah water systems that reported data to the CDC in 2024, only 66 fluoridated their water, an Associated Press analysis showed. The largest was the state’s biggest city, Salt Lake City.
In 2023, voters in Brigham City, north of Salt Lake City, struck down a measure that would have removed fluoride from its public water supplies. The proposal was defeated by more than a two-to-one margin.
Val Radmall, executive director of the Utah Dental Association, said he and other dental officials recently met with Gricius to try to get her to reevaluate the bill.
He has worked in communities without fluoride in tap water for 30 years, saying that lack of the mineral has shown in residents’ teeth.
‘I’d have a patient come in without cavities or anything else like that, and I’d say, ‘You didn’t grow up here. Where did you grow up?’ … because everybody here has lots of cavities!’ Radmall said.
