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

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Utah has become the first state of the United States to prohibit fluoride in public drinking water, overcoming the opposition of dentists and national health organizations that warn the measure will lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low -income communities.

Republican governor Spencer Cox signed the legislation on Thursday that prohibits cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems.

Florida, Ohio and South Carolina are considering similar measures, while in New Hampshire, North Dakota and Tennessee, legislators have rejected them. A bill in Kentucky to make the fluoro stagnant in the state Senate.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the election of President Donald Trump to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing, in the Capitol in Washington, on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 (AP Photo/Ben) (AP)

The American Dental Association strongly criticized Utah’s law, saying that he showed “meaningless disregard for the health and well -being of its voters.”

The cavities are the most common chronic childhood disease, said the ADA. Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces caries by Mineral replacement Lost during normal wear, according to the US disease control and prevention centers.

“As a father and dentist, it is discouraging to see that a proven public health policy, which exists for the greater good of the oral health of the entire community, has been dismantled based on distorted pseudoscience,” said the president of the association, Dentist Dentist Brett Kessler, in a statement.

Isn’t fluoride healthy? Some legislators say it is

The prohibition, as of May 7, causes the main concerns about the fluoration that for decades were considered marginal opinions.

It arrives weeks after the water flow skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sworn as Secretary of Health of the United States. Kennedy said in November that the administration of the then presidential candidate Donald Trump would advise water systems throughout the country to eliminate fluoride.

Cox, who grew up and raised his own children in a community without flurate water, recently compared it to be meditated by the government. Utah legislators also said that the ban was a matter of personal health choice and that putting fluoride in the water is too expensive.

The enslaved man is sent by mail to freedom

Florida’s general surgeon last year recommended against community water fluoration due to what he called his “neuropsychiatric risk.” This orientation occurred after a federal judge ordered the United States Environmental Protection Agency to regulate fluoride in drinking water because high levels could represent a risk to the intellectual development of children.

Federal officials determined last year “with moderate confidence” that there was a link between the highest levels of fluoride exposure and a lower IQ in children. But the National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies that involve fluoride levels at approximately twice the recommended limit for drinking water. The amounts of fluoride That can be added to the water based on federal guidelines that are below the levels considered problematic, Kessler said.

It is almost impossible to obtain a toxic fluoride dose in the water, says the NIH

The National Health Institutes say that the very high doses of fluoride that can cause diseases are usually the result of rare accidents, such as involuntary swallowing of the fluoride used by the offices of dentists or supplements that are granted inappropriately to children. The agency says that it is “practically impossible” to obtain a toxic dose of fluoride that is added to water or toothpaste to standard levels.

Caroline Kennedy warned the senators about the worrying behaviors of her cousin Robert F Kennedy Jr. (AP)

However, communities sometimes exceed the recommended levels because fluoride occurs naturally at higher levels in certain water sources. In 2011, the authorities reported that 2 out of every 5 American teenagers had at least stripes or mild teeth due to too much fluoride.

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a level of flow of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. For five decades before, the recommended upper range was 1.2 milligrams per liter. The World Health Organization has established a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5 milligrams per liter.

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

The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century: one of the most profitable ways of preventing large -scale tooth decay.

In 1950, federal officials supported water fluoration to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands arrived on the market several years later. More than 200 million people in the United States, or almost two thirds of the population, RECEIVE FLORADA PUBLIC WATER.

Fluoride in drinking water can reduce decay by at least 25 percent for all age groups, according to the Utah dental association. The opponents of Utah legislation to limit fluoration warn that it will have a disproportionately negative effect on low -income residents that can rely on flurate water as their only source of preventive dental care.

It is a matter of personal choice, says Bill de Utah sponsor

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

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

Utah in 2022 held 44th position in La Nación for the percentage of residents who receive fluorinated water, according to CDC data.

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