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EPA to Review Health Risks of Water Fluoridation as RFK Jr. Says He’ll Tell CDC to Stop Recommending It
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EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Monday announced plans to “expeditiously review” new science on the possible health risks of water fluoridation. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he plans to tell the CDC to stop recommending water fluoridation nationally.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on Monday announced plans to “expeditiously review” new science on the possible health risks of water fluoridation.
Also on Monday, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending water fluoridation nationally.
Kennedy’s deputy chief of staff Stefanie Spear said Kennedy would direct the CDC’s community preventive services task force to study fluoride and make a new recommendation, The New York Times reported.
Zeldin and Kennedy made the announcements at a press conference in Utah, which last week became the first state to ban the practice of adding fluoride to community water supplies.
The growing body of research showing fluoride’s toxic effects gained national attention when a federal judge in September ruled against the EPA in a landmark lawsuit brought by the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), Mothers Against Fluoridation, Food & Water Watch and others.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that water fluoridation at current levels recommended by public health agencies in the U.S. poses an “unreasonable risk” to children’s health and that the agency must regulate it.
Chen’s 80-page decision outlined the scientific evidence that fluoride exposure is linked to reduced IQ in children.
The EPA announced in January that it planned to appeal the ruling, days before President Joe Biden left office.
People long concerned with the harmful effects of water fluoridation on children’s health celebrated the EPA’s announcement that it would review the latest science, in an apparent response to the lawsuit. However, in a post on X, Michael Connett, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, urged caution.
Zeldin didn’t mention in Monday’s announcement that the EPA is under a court order to regulate the chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Instead, he said the agency would conduct a review under a different statute, the Safe Drinking Water Act, effectively sidestepping the obligation imposed by the court, Connett said.
The EPA’s appeal of the lawsuit, due April 11, is going forward.
“If EPA files the appeal, as it looks like they will, that will likely say more about EPA’s true intentions with fluoride than a commitment to do another ‘review’ — especially since EPA’s ‘reviews’ of the fluoride literature in the past have been atrocious,” Connett added.
The CDC makes recommendations on whether communities should add fluoride to their drinking water and at what levels. However, the EPA sets the maximum levels allowed in water under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The current maximum allowable levels of fluoride in drinking water are 4.0 milligrams/liter (mg/L), which is many orders of magnitude higher than the currently recommended dosage of 0.7 mg/L — which itself has demonstrated a risk to children’s health in recent studies.
Chen ruled that the EPA must regulate fluoride under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates substances whose production, use or disposal may cause unreasonable risks to human health.
In August 2024, the National Toxicology Program published a report linking fluoride exposure to neurotoxic effects in children, after public health officials tried for years to block its publication and water down its conclusions.
Recent epidemiological studies in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. showed significant associations between higher fluoride exposure and worse neurocognitive outcomes for children — including at the 0.7 mg/L levels.
A meta-analysis published in January showed that fluoride exposure was associated with significant reductions in IQ scores in children.
Major medical associations and public health agencies — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Dental Association and the CDC — have continued to support adding fluoride to drinking water, claiming it helps prevent cavities.
However, in addition to the growing body of research showing fluoride’s risks to children’s health, a second body of research shows that water fluoridation doesn’t provide the significant benefits the pro-fluoridation lobbyists claim.
A Cochrane Review published in October 2024 found that adding fluoride to drinking water provides very limited, if any, dental benefits, especially compared with 50 years ago.
Kennedy’s announcement signaled that in light of current science, the CDC may change its long-held position that adding fluoride to water to prevent cavities is safe and effective.
Connett said that if the CDC stops recommending water fluoridation nationally, the move would be “big.”
“The EPA has historically been very deferential to HHS when it comes to fluoride regulations and policy, so for the CDC to stop recommending fluoridation would be very significant for future EPA actions.”
CDC’s water fluoridation recommendations are widely followed but not mandatory. State and local governments decide whether to add fluoride to water and, if so, how much — as long as it doesn’t exceed a maximum set by the EPA.
Just over 200 million Americans drink fluoridated water, according to the CDC. However, since Chen’s verdict last year, numerous cities, counties and states across the country have stopped fluoridating their water or are debating rule changes that would end fluoridation.
The post EPA to Review Health Risks of Water Fluoridation as RFK Jr. Says He’ll Tell CDC to Stop Recommending It appeared first on Activist Post.
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