As the practice of water fluoridation currently faces unprecedented opposition and rejection at both the local and state levels following our recent victory in federal court and the publication of the National Toxicology Program’s review of fluoride neurotoxicity, federal officials have now dealt it another major blow.
Last night, at a joint press conference held in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted their concerns about fluoridation and announced initial actions their respective agencies will take to address known and potential side-effects of the practice.
During his presentation, the HHS Secretary condemned fluoridation and called on state legislators to pass laws banning it, reflecting a major positive change within HHS leadership on this issue. He went on to say:
“In the era of fluoridated toothpaste and mouthwash, it makes no sense to have fluoride in our water. The evidence against fluoride is overwhelming. In animal models and in human models we know that it causes IQ loss. Profound IQ loss. And it’s dose-related. So the more fluoride you get, the higher the levels in your drinking water and your urine, the more likely it is you’ll lose IQ, and also other neurological injuries like ADHD. Science indicates that it affects kidney health, it affects liver health, it causes hypothyroidism, and it causes osteoarthritis. Women who are more exposed have up to 50% more hip fractures than women who are unexposed. It causes fluorosis in between 40-80% of our kids. It makes no sense to have it in our water supply.”
Secretary Kennedy officially announced that he will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to take two immediate steps: 1) stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide, and 2) convene a community preventative services task force made up of independent health experts to study fluoridation and make new recommendations, which should include a new “optimal” level.
The current “optimal” level of 0.7 ppm is neither a law nor a regulation but only a recommendation that most states and municipalities choose to follow. Moreover, the CDC’s prior endorsement of fluoridation and their recommendations have historically had a major influence on state and local decision makers during debates on whether to continue or ban the practice, so a change to CDC policy will have a significant and widespread effect as more elected officials can point to updated guidance to support the case for ending it.
As evidence of how seriously the new administration is taking the issue, they have already initiated action to stop the CDC’s promotion of fluoridation. This past week, the CDC’s Division of Oral Health, the main promoter of water fluoridation in the U.S. government, was completely dissolved. This was the CDC department that named fluoridation as "one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 21st Century." The Chief Dental Officer role was also eliminated, and 17% of staff were laid off at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), another main promoter of water fluoridation.
After the HHS Secretary made his announcements, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin spoke, sharing that Kennedy met with him as soon as he was confirmed, and the first priority they discussed was protecting the public from water fluoridation. He pointed out that the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires the EPA to review each national primary drinking water regulation at least once every six years and revise them, if appropriate. This is the process that EPA uses to develop maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) and maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs), which limit the levels of potentially harmful contaminants--such as fluoride--that water treatment operators can have in public water supplies. The current MCL for fluoride is 4.0 ppm and the MCLG is 2.0 ppm. While the EPA did publish a poorly conducted review of fluoride in July of 2024 that made no changes, it did include a note that regulations ought to be reassessed again once the federal court made a ruling and the NTP published their review, two events that have since occurred.
Zeldin announced that the EPA will use this process to “expeditiously review new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water," adding that "When this is completed, we will have an updated foundational scientific evaluation that will inform the agency’s future steps," which will likely include a new MCL and MCLG.
The Federal Lawsuit
An official response by the EPA to the federal court ruling was not provided during the press conference. The EPA under the previous administration filed a notice of intent to appeal but have yet to file an actual appeal or a brief justifying their position. The EPA has until this Friday (April 11th) to either file their appeal or file for an extension. Inaction will let the ruling stand and require the EPA to initiate the TSCA rulemaking process to eliminate the health hazard posed to children by fluoridation. It's important to note that even if the EPA does follow through with an appeal later this week, it can still be rescinded at any point by EPA officials.
It's our belief, based on our experience with the EPA, that while the ruling is bullet-proof and can stand up to appeal, the EPA has had a long-standing history of delaying any action on the issue of adequately regulating fluoridation, and their letter of intent to appeal is just an unscientific continuation of that policy. We've called on Zeldin and the new EPA administrators to let the ruling stand without appeal.
I also want to note that while the ruling gives the EPA the ability and justification to promulgate rules banning the use of fluoridation chemicals in public water supplies under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and could justify Zeldin lowering the MCL unilaterally, the EPA's announced approach of using the SDWA to reassess fluoridation doesn't conflict with the court ruling. Instead, it offers a second avenue to potentially achieve the same result concurrently.
Stay tuned! We'll provide an update on the TSCA ruling once the Friday deadline arrives.
Why Didn't They Just Ban Fluoridation?
Just days before the election in November, Kennedy posted a message on Twitter stating that "on January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water." In that Tweet, he tagged FAN attorney Michael Connett and shared a link to Connett's interview with Jefferey Jaxen. This post was seen by at least 24 million people, and President Trump later confirmed to reporters that he would support such an advisory. However, this was misreported by media outlets that Kennedy and Trump would unilaterally ban fluoridation on day one, a promise they never made and a policy that FAN wouldn't support since executive orders carry little scientific weight or long-term influence and can so easily be overturned by future administrations. We've already won the fluoridation debate overwhelmingly with the science, so there's no benefit to politicizing the issue with federal mandates or dictates.
FAN tried to correct the media misstatements in many interviews, and our representatives reached out to the new administration, suggesting ways in which the federal government could move forward with a science-based approach that would produce a more permanent solution. This included, 1. EPA promulgating rules under TSCA based on our lawsuit victory, 2. ending the CDC's promotion of fluoridation, 3. HHS ending fluoridation grants and funding, 4. EPA using the 6-year review process to reassess the MCL for fluoridation, and 5. CDC changing their fluoridation recommendations and providing new advice to communities based on modern research rather than politics.
At this point, I want to note that FAN has always been and will continue to remain a non-partisan organization. We’ve also always been a single-issue organization. We don’t take a position on any other issue or ideology; our goal is to end water fluoridation. That was our promise 25 years ago when FAN was founded, and that remains our promise today. We’ve also promised to do so grounded in science, bringing only the strongest, most credible research to the forefront of any discussion on fluoridation. We've worked to inform every presidential administration and their CDC/EPA/FDA administrators since FAN's inception, with now being no different.
For some years, RFK has been following FAN’s work and has made it publicly known. He’s shared our work in his social media posts, he’s interviewed Michael Connett, and the nonprofit he founded, Children's Health Defense, has consistently reached out to FAN for information and quotes on fluoridation for their news coverage on the issue. He understands our issue, and we've worked with him just as we've worked with other environmental, civil rights, and community leaders such as Ralph Nader, Erin Brockovich, and Rev. Bernice King.
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