News Archive

Utah lawmakers, who voted to ban fluoride from drinking water, are considering a new cavity-prevention idea for Utahns to chew on: Giving school kids and prisoners xylitol gum three times a day. Nate Jones, the CEO of Xlear, a company that sells xylitol gum and other xylitol products, presented the idea to a recent interim […]

Lynette Schwinn grew up drinking well water on a ranch in Idaho. When she was about 20, she said, a dentist told her that her teeth were deteriorating and would likely be gone by the time she was 35. Then she moved to Brigham City, which began adding fluoride to the city’s water in 1965, […]

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is coming to Utah on Monday, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Kennedy will be holding a news conference with Lee Zeldin — administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — in Salt Lake City on Monday. They are expected […]

Utah public water systems that fluoridate their water are now facing a tricky path forward of slowly removing the chemical and ways to safely dispose of what remains at existing injection wells. It is a complicated and at times costly process to ensure systems are in compliance with the May 7 law that mandates fluoride […]

Utah has now banned fluoride from the water supply and will no longer add it. Hawaii has never added it to its public water, while other states mandate its addition. In most of the country, adding fluoride to water to prevent cavities has been a patchwork decided by cities and municipalities, where sometimes cities or […]

Utah became the first state to ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water after Gov. Spencer Cox signed the law late Thursday night. The ban will take effect on May 7. Rep. Stephanie Gricius, who sponsored the bill, said in an email to The Defender that she was thrilled the governor signed it. She […]

With a late night announcement of his signature of HB81, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox secured Utah’s position as the first state in the nation to ban the addition of fluoride into public drinking water systems. The governor’s signature comes despite thousands of emails from groups like the American Dental Association and the American Medical Association […]

dition of fluoride to public drinking water. The law, which was signed by Gov. Spencer Cox on March 27 and will go into effect on May 7, comes amid renewed scrutiny of fluoride, a mineral that has been widely added to U.S. drinking water since 1945 to prevent cavities. Although controversy over the safety of water fluoridation first […]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah has become the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, over opposition from dentists and national health organizations who warn the move will lead to medical problems and disproportionately affect low-income communities. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation Thursday that bars cities and communities from deciding whether […]

A Weber Basin Water Conservancy District sign is pictured Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Utah is slated to become the first state nationwide to ban the addition of fluoride to drinking water systems after House Bill 81, dubbed the “Fluoride Amendments,” cleared the Utah Senate on Feb. 21. If signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, the bill […]