WASHINGTON — Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday casually lent help to the false declare that fluoride in consuming water could also be harming kids, echoing the identical wholly unscientific nonsense that Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is utilizing to justify his efforts to take fluoride out of consuming water nationwide.
“From what I’ve learn and from what I perceive, it deserves actual analysis,” Johnson advised reporters at a Capitol Hill press briefing. “There’s a priority that it might be having a adverse impact on the well being of kids.”
He conceded he doesn’t know a lot about this topic, however went on to say, “Clearly, now we have an obligation on the federal authorities stage to look into that.”
“I don’t have the solutions,” Johnson continued. “However I feel it’s one which the query has been begged and it must be addressed.”
The Louisiana Republican’s feedback come a day after Kennedy stated he plans to direct the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention to stop recommending that communities put fluoride of their consuming water. He additionally plans to arrange a process pressure to look at the difficulty.
Besides none of this aligns with what medical consultants say, which is that fluoride in consuming water is secure at acceptable ranges and good for your health, because it prevents cavities, tooth decay and different well being issues. The truth is, the addition of low ranges of fluoride to consuming water is taken into account one of the greatest public health achievements of the final century.
“The rising mistrust of credible, time-tested, evidence-based science is disheartening,” Dr. Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Affiliation, stated in a press release.
“The myths that fluoridated water is dangerous and now not crucial to stop dental illness is troublesome and jogs my memory of fictional plots from previous motion pictures like ‘Dr. Strangelove,’” stated Kessler. “When authorities officers, like Secretary Kennedy, stand behind the commentary of misinformation and mistrust peer-reviewed analysis, it’s injurious to public well being.”
Ingesting water is the first supply of fluoride for two-thirds of People. However some Republicans have determined it’s harmful, regardless of it being deemed secure and efficient for many years, and wish to take out of their water. Final month, Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in its public consuming water, ignoring medical consultants who’ve warned that doing it will result in medical issues that disproportionately hurt low-income communities.
Kennedy, who can’t use his place to make communities cease placing fluoride in water however can direct the CDC to cease recommending it, applauded Utah for its coverage change.
“I’m very, very pleased with this state for being the primary state to ban it,” he stated during a Monday visit to Salt Lake Metropolis. “And I hope many extra will.”
Kennedy, who’s infamous for spreading harmful misinformation about vaccines, is already under fire for his response to a measles outbreak in Texas. He’s now apparently received his sights set on attacking the advantages of fluoride, a mineral he’s known as a “dangerous neurotoxin” and related to arthritis, bone breaks, and thyroid illness.
He’s not unsuitable that higher-than-recommended doses of fluoride may damage folks. However there is no such thing as a scientific foundation for claiming that consuming water with acceptable ranges of fluoride is dangerous to kids or anybody.
As lately as December 2024, a research from the College of Queensland found no measurable effect on cognitive neurodevelopment or IQ scores in kids in consuming water that had ranges of fluoride akin to that in the USA.
The irony of Kennedy baselessly claiming that fluoridated water may damage kids is that taking fluoride out of consuming water will result in a spike in tooth decay amongst kids, stated Dr. Bruce Dye, chair of the Division of Group Dentistry and Inhabitants Well being on the College of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
“This improve shall be most noticeable in kids over time, significantly amongst kids residing in or close to poverty,” he stated. “We might additionally anticipate to see a rise in poorer dental well being outcomes in lots of rural areas given the prevailing dental well being challenges many rural communities already expertise.”
And since eradicating fluoride from consuming water would have an effect on extra folks residing in or close to poverty, Dye stated that will possible result in a rise in Medicaid expenditures for weak teams ― together with kids.
“If the mission of the CDC is to supply science-based steering to the American folks that advances our well being and well-being, then the prevailing science continues to help that including fluoride to water at beneficial ranges is secure and gives vital dental well being advantages, particularly with serving to to stop tooth decay,” stated Dye.
What occurred in Calgary, Canada, is a good test case of what occurs if you take acceptable ranges of fluoride out of consuming water. Town council voted to take away it from town’s water provide in 2011, solely to reinstate it 10 years later. Why? The speed of individuals’s cavities and tooth decay “elevated considerably,” in keeping with metropolis council member Gian-Carlo Carra, whereas different research in that interval confirmed the “significant advantages” of fluoride.
“If we wish to do what is really wholesome for all People, policymakers must evaluate the related analysis with fluoridation ranges just like our nation, like Australia, that reveal fluoride doesn’t negatively influence IQ ranges,” stated Kessler. “The ADA depends on evidence-based analysis to enhance the oral well being of the general public and stands able to advance gold medal requirements in any future research on water fluoridation.”
Not all Republicans on Capitol Hill are giving credibility to Kennedy’s assaults on science. Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), who’s a doctor, stated Tuesday he stands with the medical group in help of getting fluoride in consuming water.
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“The American Dental Affiliation strongly recommends fluoride. It says it should lower cavities as a lot as 25% in some populations,” stated Cassidy. “It speaks for itself.”
When HuffPost famous that Kennedy thinks the alternative of what consultants suppose, the Republican senator — who voted to substantiate Kennedy to his present put up — merely stated, “The individuals who handle enamel strongly suggest it.”
Igor Bobic contributed reporting.
