Following the passage of Utah’s legislation banning the addition of fluoride, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that they will be taking actions related to the fluoridation of drinking water.
HHS plans to convene the Community Services Preventive Task Force, an independent, non-federal panel of fifteen public health experts, to “study and make a new recommendation on fluoride.” Concurrently, RFK communicated his intent to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending community fluoridation. HHS’ purview does not extend to ordering communities to stop fluoridation but does provide the advisory levels at which fluoride is commonly dosed in water supplies.
EPA, however, does have the regulatory authority to establish maximum thresholds in drinking water, with an existing Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) and Goal of 4.0 mg/L. Administrator Zeldin issued a press release, stating that EPA decided to “expeditiously review” scientific information on health risks of fluoride with the intent to inform agency decisions on the MCL for fluoride.
Water fluoridation has come under increased scrutiny following August’s controversial NTP monograph that challenged the existing understanding of dental benefits versus other health risks. Fluoridation is also facing opposition in the courts following the release of this monograph including one judge determining that drinking water fluoridation at current levels presents an “unreasonable risk,” in a decision currently being challenged.