OAN Staff James Meyers
2:37 PM – Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Utah is set to become the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water.
Advertisement
On Monday, the Governor of the Beehive State Spencer Cox (R-Utah) announced that he would sign a bill banning the chemical in drinking water throughout Utah.
“It’s not a bill I felt strongly about; it’s not a bill I care that much about, but it’s a bill I will sign,” Cox told ABC4 Utah. The bill, according to the Wall Street Journal, is scheduled to take effect in May.
The bill comes just weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly expressed his doubts about the benefits of fluoride in water.
“We don’t need fluoride in our water,” he stated on NPR’s Morning Edition. “It’s a very bad way to deliver it into our systems.” As Food & Wine, in 2015, the U.S. Public Health Service recommended lowering fluoridation in water to 0.7 milligrams per liter nationwide.
During a recent NBC interview, Kennedy told the network he would be in support of it being removed.
“I think fluoride is on its way out … I’m not going to compel anybody to take it out, but I’m going to advise the water districts. I’m going to give them good information about the science, and I think fluoride will disappear.”
However, opposition to the ban says researchers have found that community water fluoridation prevents close to 25% of tooth decay.
“We’ve got tried and true evidence of the safety and efficacy of this public health initiative,” said American Dental Association President Brad Kessler.
Meanwhile, over 200 million people in the United States, or close to 63% of the U.S. population, receive fluoridated water through community water systems.
The bill was also supported by a Utah teenager who pleaded with lawmakers to pass the bill after suffering a medical emergency when a fluoride pump in Sandy, Utah, malfunctioned in 2019, releasing an excessive amount of the mineral into the drinking water.
Furthermore, opponents have said banning fluoride could affect low-income residents who rely on public drinking water having fluoride as their only source of dental care.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below
