Salt Lake City (AP) – US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday that he planned to say it Centers for Disease Control and Prevention To stop recommending fluoritation in the country’s communities. Kennedy said he was assessing a health expert working group to study the problem and make new recommendations.
Also Monday, the American environmental protection agency Announced that he was examining “new scientific information” on the potential risks for fluorine health in drinking water. The EPA establishes the maximum level authorized in public water systems.
Kennedy told the Associated Press of his plans after a press conference with the EPA administrator Lee Zeldin in Salt Lake City.
Kennedy cannot order communities to stop fluoride, but he can order the CDC to stop recommending it and working with EPA to modify the authorized amount.
Utah last month became the first state to be prohibited fluoride in drinking waterpushing opposition of national dentists and health organizations Who warned this decision would disproportionately injure low -income residents who cannot afford regular dentist visits.
The Republican Governor Spencer Cox has signed legislation unless cities and communities to decide to add the cavity prevention mineral to their drinking water. Water systems through the state must stop fluoride by May 7.
Kennedy congratulated Utah for emerging as “the leader in the manufacture of healthy America”. UTAH and sponsor of the State Fluor Act.
“I am very, very proud of this state to be the first state to ban it, and I hope that many others will be,” he said.
Kennedy oversees the CDC, whose recommendations are widely followed but not compulsory. Governments of states and premises Decide from the addition of fluorine to the water And, in the affirmative, how much – as long as it does not exceed a maximum whole by EPA, which is currently 4 milligrams per liter.
Zeldin said that his agency launched a renewed examination of scientific studies on potential risks for fluoride health in drinking water to help clarify changes to national standards.
“Once this evaluation is completed, we will have a fundamental scientific assessment updated which will shed light on the agency’s future stages,” said Zeldin. “Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this issue. His plea played a decisive role in our decision to examine the risks of exposure to fluorine, and we are committed to working alongside him, using a healthy science while we are advancing our mission to protect human health and the environment. “
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing the minerals lost during normal wear, according to the CDC. In 1950, federal officials approved water fluoridation to prevent dental caries and, in 1962, they established guidelines to know how added to the water.
Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, described the fluorine as “dangerous neurotoxin” and said that it had been associated with arthritis, bone ruptures and thyroid diseases. Some studies have suggested that such links may exist, generally at higher than recommended fluoride levels, although some examiners have questioned the quality of available evidence and have said that no final conclusion can be drawn.
In November, a few days before the presidential election, Kennedy said Donald Trump would push to eliminate fluorine Drinking water during its first day of president. It did not happen, but Trump then chose Kennedy to manage the American Department of Health and Social Serviceswhere he had to take a kind of action. In the meantime, some localities continued to decide to continue to add fluoride.
Linked to all this: a massive series of endowment reductions last week in federal agencies included the elimination of the Bucco-Dentaire Health Division of 20 people from the CDC. This office has managed local agencies to improve dental health And, in some cases, encourage fluoritation.
Fluoride can come from a number of sources, but drinking water is the main for Americans, according to researchers. According to CDC data, almost two thirds of the American population receive fluorinated drinking water. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest achievements in public health of the last century.
According to an analysis of the CDC 2022, around a third of community water systems – 17,000 out of 51,000 across the United States. The agency currently recommends 0.7 milligrams of fluorine per liter of water.
But over time, studies have documented potential problems. Too much fluoride has been associated with streaks or spots on the teeth. Studies have also retraced a link between excess fluoride and brain development.
A report last year by the Federal Government National 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 milligram of fluoride per liter – more than twice the level recommended in the United States – was associated with lower IQs in children.
The American Dental Association said that decades of fluoride in drinking water reduce dental caries. The group said it was willing to help carry out high quality studies to solve the problem.
“When representatives of the government like secretary Kennedy stand behind the commentary on the disinformation and distrust of research evaluated by peers, he is prejudicial to public health,” said the association’s president, Brett Kessler.
The president of the UTAH oral health coalition Lorna Koci said on Monday that she hoped that other states will postpone the withdrawal of fluorine and that Kennedy’s visit to celebrate the prohibition of her state fluoride underlines the political motivations of those who support him.
“It seems to be less on fluoride and more on power,” said Koci.
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Stobbe reported in New York. The writer Associated Press Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed the reports.
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