A Florida city has become the latest community to vote to bring an end to municipal fluoridation, in the wake of a landmark ruling by a California judge and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promise that a second Trump administration will issue health guidance against fluoridation.
The city commission of Winter Haven, Florida voted last week to discontinue the fluoridation of the water supply.
Winter Haven Commissioner Brad Dantzler said that Judge Edward Chen’s ruling and Kennedy’s probable nomination were reasons for fluoride to be removed from the city’s drinking water. The vote came two days before president-elect Donald Trump named Kennedy as his choice to lead Health and Human Services.
In September, US District Judge Edward Chen ruled that some studies suggest fluoride levels could pose an unreasonable risk to the public’s health and that the EPA must address that risk.
“In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health; it is associated with a reduction in the IQ of children and is hazardous at dosages that are far too close to fluoride levels in the drinking water of the United States,” Chen wrote in his judgment.
“EPA’s own expert agrees that fluoride is hazardous at some level,” he added, citing a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and National Toxicology Program (NTP) which “concluded that fluoride is indeed associated with reduced IQ in children, at least at exposure levels at or above 1.5 mg/L.”
Following the ruling, two municipalities in Westchester County, New York voted to stop fluoridation of the water supply, and so did the Texas city of Abilene.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made clear that water fluoridation will be one of the targets of his Make America Healthy Again agenda. He recently Tweeted that the Trump administration would advise against adding fluoride to the public water supply.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy Tweeted.
“Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. President @realDonaldTrump and First Lady @MELANIATRUMP want to Make America Healthy Again.”
In a second Tweet, Kennedy drew attention to a recent federal court ruling, in which an Obama-appointed judge, after reviewing a huge number of scientific studies and hours of expert testimony, ruled that the EPA had “improperly approved this dangerous neurotoxin.”
Trump is reported to have said the idea “sounds good to me.”
Kennedy has outlined at least five clear targets for the MAHA agenda: the water supply; the vaccines; the pollution; the food; and the regulators.