1 week Ago By Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. 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. Kennedy also said he’s assembling a task force to focus on the issue.
Also on Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is reviewing “new scientific information” on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water.
The EPA has primary authority to set the maximum level of fluoridation in public water systems. Kennedy told The Associated Press of his plans after a news conference with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in Salt Lake City. Kennedy can’t order communities to stop fluoridation, but he can tell 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 lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low-income communities. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the cavity-preventing mineral to their water systems.
Water systems across the state must shut down their fluoridation systems by May 7. Kennedy praised Utah 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.
“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..
