Kennedy joined EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for a MAHA tour in Utah, which banned fluoride in public drinking water last month.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on April 7 that he would tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending fluoridation in municipal water nationwide.
Kennedy also said his department would reconvene the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel composed of public health and prevention experts, “to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride.”
Kennedy disclosed the plans to The Associated Press on April 7 during an event in Salt Lake City, where he was joined by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin as part of a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) tour.
The EPA stated on April 7 that it is reviewing “new scientific information” on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water. The agency has the authority to set the maximum level of fluoridation in public water systems.
Kennedy is an outspoken opponent of fluoride in water, calling it an “industrial waste” and “dangerous neurotoxin” on the presidential campaign trail in 2024.
In March, Utah became the first state to ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water when Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation to that effect. Water systems in communities across the state must stop adding the mineral by May 7.
Flanked by Utah legislators, Kennedy praised the state for emerging as “the leader in making America healthy again” on April 7.
“It makes no sense to have it in our water supply. And I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban it. And I hope many more will come,” Kennedy said.
Utah state Rep. Stephanie Gricius, a Republican and chief sponsor of the bill, said pharmacists will still be allowed to prescribe fluoride for those wanting the mineral’s protection for their teeth.
“I believe in individual choice when it comes to what prescriptions we put into our bodies, and fluoride is federally regulated as a prescription,” Gricius told Reuters last month. “Community water fluoridation and informed consent, which is foundational to good health care, cannot coexist.”
