This story originally published in the Utah News Dispatch on April 7.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’s proud of Utah’s push to eliminate fluoride from drinking water, telling reporters he hopes other states follow suit.
Kennedy spoke to a crowded room of journalists, lawmakers and health officials on Monday, part of a tour of Western states to promote his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, known as MAHA.
“If we want to be a moral nation, if we want to maintain our moral authority around the world, our chief obligation is to our children. And we’re letting them down. And I’m very, very happy that Utah is taking the lead in so many ways,” Kennedy said on Monday. “It makes no sense to have fluoride in our water. The evidence against fluoride is overwhelming … we know that it causes I.Q. loss.”
Fluoride is a mineral that has been shown to strengthen teeth by replacing minerals that are lost from acid breakdown, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent report from the National Toxicology Program found that high levels of fluoride in drinking water can be associated with a lower I.Q. in children — but according to the report, those levels are twice as high as the current recommended amount of fluoride.
Kennedy spoke to several bills that align with the MAHA agenda, mostly focusing on HB81, the fluoride bill. Sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, the bill prohibits municipalities from adding fluoride to drinking water, while adding it to the list of drugs that pharmacists can prescribe.
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said that’s a “win-win” situation.
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“We want to make sure those options are there” for Utahns who want more fluoride than what’s available in toothpaste or mouthwash, said Schultz, R-Hooper, who spoke during Monday’s press conference.
The bill received pushback from dentists and other health professionals, who say adding fluoride to drinking water has resulted in less cavities among children. That includes Dr. Sarah Woolsey, a family physician who told lawmakers during a legislative committee meeting that she saw a decrease in referrals for cavity extractions under anesthesia after Salt Lake County started to add fluoride to its water.
“Despite my efforts in education, in prescribing fluoride and working with parents, the voluntary application does not always work for those that may be most vulnerable,” said Woolsey. “And I would like to say that since fluoride has been in the water, the number of kids I send (to have teeth extracted) is significantly less.”
The bill passed mostly along party lines, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. It was signed by the governor on March 27, and takes effect on May 7.
After the press conference on Monday, Kennedy told the Associated Press he will instruct the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending state and local governments add fluoride to drinking water. He also told the Associated Press he will set up a task force to look into the issue.
Lee Zeldin, a former GOP congressman and the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency is going to review all the fluoride-related studies that came out since the National Toxicology Program report in 2024.
“We’re prepared to act based on this science,” said Zeldin, who also spoke during the event on Monday. “Both the National Toxicology Program study, as well as other peer-reviewed studies. If this is as important as it is to Secretary Kennedy, if it’s important as it is, clearly to so many people who are here in this room and at this press conference today, then it is top of the list for the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Kennedy suggested Gricius’ bill could be a model for other states.
“I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban (fluoride). I hope many more will come,” he said on Monday, echoing the argument from Utah lawmakers this session — that it’s an issue of bodily autonomy and freedom of choice.
“We shouldn’t be demanding that parents accept something in their children and homes that is essentially a medication. They can go to a drug store and get toothpaste,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s a moral imperative that we all believe in freedom of choice in this country, it’s one of the bedrock principles of our democracy.”
Utah becomes the first state to ban adding fluoride to drinking water
Kennedy also touted two other bills passed by the legislature and signed by the governor.
HB402, sponsored by Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland, bans public schools from using certain food dyes and other preservatives and additives — including potassium bromate and propylparaben — in food preparation.
And HB403, also sponsored by Chevrier, restricts Utahns who receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — a federal program that subsidizes food purchases for low-income individuals — from buying soda.
“We anticipate that this is the beginning of a cultural shift that will extend throughout the nation, a shift towards proactively building health rather than treating disease,” said Chevrier during the news conference Monday.
Kennedy, former presidential candidate, environmental attorney, son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former president John F. Kennedy, was nominated to lead the country’s Department of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump.
Kennedy has long promoted public health reform, healthy diets and alternative treatments to chronic diseases — some of his stances have been controversial, including skepticism around certain vaccines, advocating against fluoride in drinking water, and claims that COVID-19 impacts certain ethnic groups differently.
Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com.
Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
