RFK Jr. and Republicans Are Dismantling a Public Health Achievement: Fluoride
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RFK Jr. and Republicans Are Dismantling a Health Achievement: Fluoride in Water
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Republicans are leading a charge against what has been heralded as one of the greatest public health achievements: fluoride in public water. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned fluoride from public water on Thursday, following Utah’s move to do the same in March. At least five other states are eyeing similar bans. Excessive amounts of fluoride are linked to skeletal fluorosis, a bone disease. Levels of fluoride much higher than what are in water supplies has been linked to hypothyroidism, which can lead to IQ loss in children. The Food and Drug Administration, which is part of HHS, announced this week that it’s beginning to remove ingestible fluoride supplements for children from shelves. In 1999, the CDC called fluoridation of drinking water one of. the 10 great public health achievement of the 20th century. Federal officials endorsed fluoridation in 1950. In the past six years, at least 734 water systems have stopped fluoridating their water, according to the Associated Press.
Source: Rollingstone.com | Read full article
As Florida watches, Utah dentists prepare patients for the first statewide fluoride ban
Utah’s first-in-the-nation ban on fluoride in public drinking water is now in effect. Dentists who treat children and low-income patients say they’re bracing for an increase in tooth decay. Many dentists and national health experts warn removing fluoride will harm tooth development, especially in young patients without regular access to dental care. The Florida Legislature approved a measure that would remove health additives like fluoride from public water systems statewide. The law will impact about 1.6 million people in Salt Lake City and elsewhere in northern Utah who are losing fluoridation, state officials say. The National Institutes of Health says it’s “virtually impossible” to get a toxic dose from fluoride added to water or toothpaste at standard levels. It’s not the role of government to decide the entire population should receive fluoride in their drinking water, a Bountiful resident and trustee of her local water district says. It was long considered among the greatest public health achievements of the last century, according to health officials.
Source: Health.wusf.usf.edu | Read full article
Florida to become second state to ban fluoride in water, alarming experts
Florida lawmakers approved the bill Tuesday after Utah became the first state to pass a ban last month. The Republican-led states are following a push led by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has railed against the mineral. Florida measure now goes to the desk of the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, whose administration has advocated against community water fluoridation. Some local officials in Florida have already voted to remove the mineral from their community water systems, ahead of state lawmakers’ push to ban fluoride. Others have argued to keep fluoride and that local communities should have the ultimate say in whether to keep the mineral in their water systems. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water is considered among the greatest public health achievements of the last century. The US National Toxicology Program found with “moderate confidence” that children exposed to fluoride levels twice those recommended for drinking water “are consistently associated with lower IQ in children’s” A Cochrane Review found the benefits of fluoride have likely diminished since 1975, when fluoride became widely available.
Source: Theguardian.com | Read full article
GOP Comes For Fluoride In Drinking Water
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is lending support to the false claim that fluoride in drinking water may be harming children. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is using the same nonsense to justify his efforts to take fluoride out of drinking water nationwide. Johnson’s comments come a day after Kennedy said he plans to direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending that communities put fluoride in their drinking water. Last month, Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in its public drinking water, ignoring medical experts who have warned that doing this will lead to medical problems that disproportionately hurt low-income communities. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water is considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century. But some Republicans have decided it is dangerous, despite it being deemed safe and effective for decades, and want to take out of their water. The irony of Kennedy baselessly claiming that fluoridated water will hurt children is that drinking water will increase in tooth decay among children.
Source: Huffpost.com | Read full article
RFK Jr. will tell CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is assembling a task force of health experts to study the issue. Utah last month became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water. The EPA is reviewing “new scientific information” on potential health risks of fluoride. The CDC currently recommends 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water, but the EPA sets the maximum level allowed in public water systems, 4 milligram per liter.. A massive round of staffing cuts last week across federal agencies included elimination of the CDC’s 20-person Division of Oral Health. That office managed grants to local agencies to improve dental health and, in some cases, encourage fluoridation. Nearly two-thirds of the U.S., according to the CDC, gets its drinking water from a fluoridated water system. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century. About one-third of community water systems — about 17,000 out of 51,000 across the US — fluoridated their water, according to a CDC analysis.
Source: Pbs.org | Read full article
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Sources
- Original: RFK Jr. and Republicans Are Dismantling a Health Achievement: Fluoride in Water
- As Florida watches, Utah dentists prepare patients for the first statewide fluoride ban
- Florida to become second state to ban fluoride in water, alarming experts
- GOP Comes For Fluoride In Drinking Water
- RFK Jr. will tell CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/rfk-jr-trump-desantis-republicans-fluoride-health-ban-1235342055/