Utah prohibits fluoride in public drinking water, a first in the US

Salt Lake City (AP) – Utah has become the first state that prohibits fluoride in public drinking waterpushing past Opposition by dentists and national health organizations who warn that the move will lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low -income communities.

Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation on Thursday, banning cities and communities to decide whether to add the mineral to water systems.

Florida, Ohio and South Carolina are considering similar measures, while in New Hamsire, Northern Dakota and Tennessee, their legislators rejected them. A bill in Kentucky to make fluoridation an optional attitude to the state Senate.

The US Dental Union strongly criticized Utah’s law, saying that it showed that “ignoring the oral health and prosperity of their voters”.

The cavities are the most common chronic childhood illness, Ada noted. Fluoride reinforces teeth and reduces cavities from Replacement of minerals It lost during normal deterioration, according to US Disease Control and Prevention Centers.

“As a father and dentist, it is frustrating to see that a proven public health policy, which exists for the greatest good of the oral health of an entire community, has been disassembled on the basis of deformed pseudoscience,” said Union President Brett.

Is fluoride unhealthy? Some legislators say they are

The prohibition, effective on May 7, brings key concerns about fluoridation that for decades were considered marginal views.

It comes weeks after the skeptic of water fluoridation Robert F. Kennedy younger was sworn in as US Health Secretary. Kennedy said In November that the administration of the then candidate Donald Trump would advise water systems at national level to remove fluoride.

Cox, who grew up and put his own children in a community without fluorid water, recently compared it to government medication. Utah’s legislators also stated that the ban was a matter of personal health choice and that the placement of fluoride in the water was too expensive.

Florida’s general surgeon last year recommended against Community water fluoridation because of what he called “neuropsychiatric danger”. This guidance came after a federal judge ordered the US Environmental Protection Service to regulate fluoride in drinking water because high levels could endanger the spiritual development of children.

Federal officials set Last year “with moderate confidence” that there was a connection between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in children. However, the National Toxicological Program was based on its conclusion in studies of fluoride levels at about twice the recommended threshold for drinking water. The quantities of fluoride This can be added to the water based on federal guidelines is below levels considered problematic, Kessler said.

It is almost impossible to take a toxic dose of fluoride in the water, says nih

National Institutes of Health report that very high doses of fluoride that can cause disease are usually the result of rare accidents, such as inadvertent swallowing fluoride used by offices or supplements of dentists given inappropriately to children. The body says it is “almost impossible” to take a toxic dose of fluoride added to water or toothpaste at typical levels.

However, sometimes communities exceeds the recommended levels Because fluoride naturally occurs at higher levels in certain sources of water. In 2011, officials reported that 2 out of 5 US adolescents had at least mild tooth or spiral streaks due to excessive fluoride.

Since 2015, Federal Health Officers have recommended a level of fluorization of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. For five decades before this, the recommended upper range was 1.2 milligrams per liter. The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water 1.5 milligrams per liter.

Fluoride is considered one of the greatest health achievements in 100 years

Adding low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the biggest public health achievements of the last century: one of the most cost -effective ways to prevent dental decay on a large scale.

In 1950, federal officials approved water fluoridation to prevent teeth from decomposing and continued to promote it even after the fluoride toothpaste trade marks hit the market several years later. More than 200 million people in the US, or nearly two -thirds of the population, Receive Fluoridated Public Water.

Fluoride in drinking water can reduce the cavities by at least 25% for all age groups, according to the Utah dental union. Opponents of Utah’s legislation to reduce fluoridation warn that they will have a disproportionately negative impact on low -income residents who may be based on fluoridated water as the only source of preventive dental care.

It is a matter of personal choice, says the sponsor of the Utah bill

The sponsor of Utah’s legislation, Republican Rep. Stephanie Gricius, he acknowledged that fluoride has benefits, but said it was a “individual choice” issue so as not to have it in the water.

Of the 484 Utah water systems that reported data in 2024, only 66 fluoridized their water, showed an Associated Press resolution. The biggest was that in the largest municipality of the state, Salt Lake City.

Utah in 2022 took 44th place in the nation for the percentage of residents receiving fluoridated water, according to CDC data.

Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Subscribe to Updates

What's Hot