Utah has officially become the first state to prohibit the addition of fluoride to public drinking water, a move that aligns with the campaign to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA). Studies have shown that fluoride poses potential health risks, while supporters of the neurotoxin are protesting over the supposed benefits for dental health.
The legislation was signed into law on Thursday by Governor Spencer Cox and is expected to go into effect on May 7.
Fox News reports:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear.
Critics, however, have long said that washing teeth with fluoride is not comparable to the risks posed by ingesting fluoride, with the latter potentially triggering harmful neurotoxic effects.
The fluoride used in public systems is typically not naturally occurring fluoride and is instead sourced from the phosphate fertilizer industry, where it’s captured during processing to prevent environmental emissions.
Utah lawmakers who pushed for a ban said putting fluoride in water was too expensive and didn’t improve dental health. Cox, who grew up and raised his own children in a community without fluoridated water, compared it recently to being “medicated” by the government.
Many European countries have already gotten rid of fluoridated water due to health concerns as well as seeing it as “forced medication.” Countries like Germany and Belgium have argued that adding fluoride to drinking water is a form of mass medication, which should be left up to the individual.
Bill sponsor Rep. Stephanie Gricius, a Republican, told Fox News Digital in January that she had been working on the bill since early last year, noting that fluoride is federally regulated as a prescription.
“Community water fluoridation and informed consent, which is foundational to good health care, cannot coexist,” Gricius said.
“I believe strongly in individual choice when it comes to what prescriptions we put into our bodies.”
She said only two of Utah’s 29 counties practice community water fluoridation, and with a sample size of more than 70,000 children, researchers found there was no significant difference on children’s dental decay between counties that add fluoride and those that do not.
In November, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also vowed in November to outlaw adding fluoride to water, nationwide.
“Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease,” RFK declared on X.