Florida has turn into the second state within the nation — after Utah — to ban fluoridation of public water programs.
And Martínez, Host:
Florida is now the second state within the nation after Utah to ban placing fluoride in all public waters. Tristan Wooden of member station WFSU experiences.
TRISTAN WOOD, BYLINE: Fluoride is a mineral used to combat cavities. It was first utilized in municipal waterways in America in 1945. Just lately, politicians have been pointing to a mixture of fluoride research to push for banning the observe. A type of politicians is Florida Surgeon Normal Joseph Ladapo. He says banning fluoridation is the best transfer.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOSEPH LADAPO: It is OK to reverse your place when there’s proof. I imply, that is the best factor to do. You are able of management. You are there to serve individuals.
WOOD: The proof he is pointing to is analysis revealed in JAMA Pediatrics, which checked out a number of research outdoors of the U.S. It suggests a hyperlink between excessive ranges of fluoride and a small lower in kids’s IQ. The quantity of fluoride publicity researched in these research was a lot greater than what’s added to public waters within the U.S. Through the invoice signing Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned public fluoridation robs individuals of medical decisions.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RON DESANTIS: Sure, use fluoride to your enamel. That is wonderful. However forcing it within the water provide is mainly compelled medicine on individuals. They do not have a selection. You are taking that away from them.
WOOD: A number of teams, together with the Florida Dental Affiliation, are vital of the transfer. Low ranges of fluoride, as utilized in ingesting water within the U.S., is mostly thought of secure and a key a part of dental well being. The affiliation’s president, Jeff Ottley, worries about adverse oral well being impacts on individuals throughout Florida. He is notably involved about poor kids on Medicaid as a result of not sufficient dentists settle for it.
JEFF OTTLEY: They will have a rise within the variety of cavities, enhance within the severity of cavities. After which as a result of we’ve got such a scarcity of Medicaid-providing dentists, they will be unable to seek out suppliers to assist maintain these issues.
WOOD: The Florida fluoride ban goes into impact July 1.
For NPR Information, I am Tristan Wooden in Tallahassee.
(SOUNDBITE OF HUMAN BELL’S “HYMN AMERIKA”)
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might differ. Transcript textual content could also be revised to right errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its unique broadcast or publication. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
