Salt Lake City – The Secretary of Health of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said Monday that he plans to tell the centers for the control and prevention of diseases that he will soon stop recommending fluoration in communities throughout the country, and added that he is gathering a working group to concentrate on the subject.
Also on Monday, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is reviewing “new scientific information” about possible risks to the health of fluoride in drinking water.
Kennedy told Associated Press of his plans after a press conference at Salt Lake City.
Last month, Utah became the first state to prohibit fluoride in public drinking water, overcoming the opposition of dentists and national health organizations that warned that the measure would lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low -income communities.
Republican governor Spencer Cox signed legislation that prohibits cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral that prevented the cavity from their water systems. Water systems throughout the state must turn off their fluoration systems before May 7.
Kennedy praised Utah to emerge as “the leader in making the United States again healthy.” He was flanked by UTAH legislative leaders and the sponsor of the State’s Fluorine Law. “I am very, very proud of this state for being the first state to prohibit it, and I hope that many more do it,” he said.
The EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, who appeared with Kennedy at the press conference, said his agency was launching a renewed examination of scientific studies on the potential risks for fluoride health in drinking water to help inform to inform any change to national standards.
“When this evaluation is completed, we will have an updated fundamental scientific evaluation that will report the future steps of the agency,” said Zeldin. “Secretary Kennedy has been at the forefront of this issue. His defense was fundamental in our decision to review the risks of exposure to fluoride and we are committed to work together with him, using solid science as we move forward our mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces decay by replacing lost minerals during normal wear, according to CDCs. In 1950, federal officials supported water fluoration to prevent tooth decay, and in 1962 they established guidelines on how much it should be added to the water.
Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has called fluoride a “dangerous neurotoxin” and said he has also associated with arthritis, bone breaks and thyroid disease. Some studies have suggested that such links could exist, generally at higher fluoride levels of what is recommended, although some reviewers have questioned the quality of the available evidence and have said that definitive conclusions cannot be drawn.
Researchers say that fluoride can come from several sources, but researchers say that drinking water is the main one for Americans. According to CDC data, almost two thirds of the US population. Obtain fluorid drinking water. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was considered for a long time one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Around a third of community water systems, 17,000 of 51,000 in the US, serving more than 60% of the population fluoridated their water, according to an analysis of the CDC of 2022. Currently, the agency 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 stripes or spots on the teeth. Studies have also tracked a link between excess fluoride and brain development.
A report last year of the National Federal Government toxicology program, which summed up the studies carried out in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico, concluded that drinking water with more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, more than double the level recommended in the USA.
