HHS, EPA to study fluoride in drinking water, because RFK JR. says he will say that CDC will stop recommending it – The Mercury News

(CNN) – The United States Ministry of Health and Social Services said on Monday that it reconstructed the working group on community preventive services, an independent panel of public health and prevention experts, “study and make a new recommendation on fluorine.”

HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also told the Associated Press on Monday that he would soon say to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention American to stop recommending the fluoridation of drinking water in communities.

And the administrator of the American environmental protection agency Lee Zeldin announced on Monday that the EPA would quickly examine scientific information on “potential risks for fluorine health in drinking water”.

“Without prejudging results, once this evaluation is completed, we will have a fundamental scientific assessment updated which will shed light on the future stages of the agency,” he said in a statement.

Although the CDC makes recommendations, it is the EPA which sets the limits of what is authorized in water and makes recommendations under the drinking water law.

Monday, Kennedy and Zeldin visited Utah, which in March prohibited municipal water systems from the addition of fluorine, from May.

“I think it is a moral imperative that we all believe in freedom of choice in this country,” said Kennedy. “This is one of the principles of the foundation of our democracy, and the government should not make decisions, intimate decisions concerning our own life.”

States legislators such as Ohio, South Carolina and Florida have also offered restrictions on fluoridated water.

“As dentists, we note the direct consequences the elimination of fluoride on our patients and it is a real tragedy when the decisions of political decision -makers harm the long -term vulnerable children and adults,” said Dr. Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association. “The call blindly to the prohibition of fluorinated water hurts people, costs money and ultimately harming our economy. We see the advantages of fluoride daily, both of fluoridated water consumption and topically in products such as fluoride toothpaste and other dental products, so we know that the need for both exists. ”

Dr. Darren Chamberlain, a pediatric dentist who sits on the board of directors of Utah Dental Association, said that he operated on Monday morning on patients who had 12 and 14 cavities.

“I am nervous that it is the future of Utah, and I did it at the expense of Medicaid, and they were thousands of dollars to be able to do so. I therefore hope they have the funds to help children, because we will see more of these circumstances,” he said. “I feel for children who will be affected by this.”

The fluoridation of public water systems has long been considered one of the most successful public health advances of the 20th century. Municipalities across the country have added fluoride to water since about the 1940s, after scientists have noticed that people who had water in high places of natural fluoride had fewer cavities.

The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association support the use of fluorine as an effective and sure means of maintaining dental health.

Adding this natural mineral to drinking water is the most profitable way to strengthen teeth, says CDC, protecting them from normal wear and cavities, especially in children. In some cases, it may only be the protection of oral health to which a family has access if it cannot afford regular trips to a dentist.

The CDC calls cavities The most common chronic disease in childhood in the United States, and Kennedy said that chronic conditions were its main concern. But the HHS secretary also said that he wanted the country to eliminate fluorine from its water systems due to concerns about their health risks.

On the campaign trail last fall, Kennedy called the “industrial waste” fluordes and said that the exhibition had led to a wide variety of health problems, including cancer. The American Cancer Society and the CDC have disagreed, stressing that most studies of people living in areas with fluoridated water have not found an association between fluorine and the risk of cancer, although many also call for additional research.

Zeldin quoted Kennedy’s plea on fluorine as one of the main reasons for which he called for scientific examination.

“As soon as I was appointed by President Trump as an EPA administrator, the secretary instantly contacted to start talking about the problems that fascinated him, and the number one on this list was fluoride,” Zeldin said on Monday.

The newly announced scientific journal that EPA will lead with HHS is centered on a report that the national toxicology program published in August, concluding that higher levels of fluorine – greater than 1.5 milligrams per liter – are linked to a low IQ in children.

“These studies have used research in fields outside the United States with high natural fluoride and have not found an association between fluorine and Qi on low levels,” said American Dental Association in its press release. “The authors of the report clearly indicate that their results do not concern the practice of fluoridation in the United States and Canada with levels at 0.7 mg / L.”

The EPA is committed to an “in -depth examination of these results and additional studies examined by peers,” the agency said on Monday.

In September, a federal judge ordered the EPA to take additional measures to regulate fluordone, because a handful of other studies have found a possible link between exposure to high levels of fluoride and the intellectual development of children.

A recent report distinct from Cochrane collaboration, an independent group that systematically analyzes scientific research, has found a slight advantage to add fluoride to tap water, which leads to a little less cavities in the children’s milk teeth. It is in the process of sharing the scale of the positive effects of the addition of fluoride to public water.

Fluoride is used in public drinking water systems provided three -quarters of Americans, according to the CDC.

The American Dental Association says that fluoridation continues to be effective in reducing dental decrease by at least 25% in children and adults, even when there are other means for people to obtain it, such as toothpaste.

In UTAH, legislators and voters went back and forth on the advantages of the addition of fluorine to water. In 1976, voters adopted a voting initiative which prohibited the State Health Council from imposing the addition of fluorine or other drugs on public water supply and forced local voters to adopt an initiative to add them.

Health problems were not the only reason for the ban; Some voters rather thought that fluoridation was part of a communist plot against the country.

In 2000, the voters of the county of Salt Lake were the first of Utah to vote to add fluorine to their water. Fluoring began in 2003, and other counties quickly followed, but the number of people who drink fluorinated water in UTAH are still low compared to other states.

In 2022, the CDC noted that only around 44% of UTAH residents had access to fluorinated water systems, UTAH ranking 44th among American states. In comparison, all the drinking water in the Washington region is fluorinated. In Kentucky, it represents 99.7% of the population.

More recently, some UTAH anti-flut defenders said that adding fluorine to water was too expensive, while others were competing for its health effects. The American Dental Association sent letters to the legislators to protest against the ban, and certain municipalities have also fought it.

The county of Salt Lake argued that the elimination of drinking water fluoride will be expensive for local families.

The County Department of Health told CNN on Monday that it supported the fluoridation of community water as “proven, proven and effective means of improving oral health throughout the level of the community, regardless of income level or access to regular dental care”.

The ministry said it was preparing educational information to allow families to know that when fluorine is withdrawn from their water, they will have to provide fluorine supplements to their children to replace the advantages.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that children aged 6 months and 16 years old who are at high risk of cavities obtain a form of fluoride every day.

Although water fluoridation saves $ 32 per person per year by avoiding the need for the treatment of the cavity, the County of Salt Lake, said, having to add supplements to the daily routine of a child will collectively cost families at least $ 284,000 – and not all families will be able to afford the supplements.

The end of fluoritations had negative effects in certain places. A 2019 study in Juneau, Alaska, revealed that children without access to fluoride in their drinking water also had more procedures related to dental.

Calgary, in Alberta, ceased to put fluoride in his water in 2011, and a study revealed that children had more cavities there than those of cities that kept fluoride. Calgary will resume fluoridation this year.

“Perhaps we should be happy at a certain level that the EPA examines this, because we certainly know of the 80 years of fluorescent water in the United States that it is effective,” said Chamberlain. “In practice, we definitely see a significant difference between people who live in fluorinated and non -fluoridated communities.”

Meg Tirrell de CNN, Nadia Kounang and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.

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Originally published: April 7, 2025 at 6:22 p.m.