The fight against fluoride is coming to Miami on Tuesday, when the state’s top health official under Gov. Ron DeSantis will have the spotlight to bash the practice of using modified tap water to fight tooth decay. Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, is set to be the star speaker at Miami-Dade’s Health and Safety Committee meeting. The topic is adding cavity-fighting fluoride to drinking water, which the committee’s chair, Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, wants to end in Miami-Dade.
“As more people are questioning how much fluoride we need or whether we need it all, this is something we need to look into, because the risk may outweigh the benefits,” Gonzalez said in a county-produced video promoting Tuesday’s 11 a.m. hearing at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown Miami.
Gonzalez, an attorney who first became a commissioner through a DeSantis appointment three years ago, has already requested that county lawyers draft legislation that would remove fluoride from Miami-Dade drinking water. That legislation has yet to show up for a vote, but Gonzalez is using the committee he chairs to give Ladapo the chance to make his case against fluoride.
At issue is the widely accepted practice in the United States of adding tiny amounts of fluoride to drinking water to ensure the population has a steady supply of a natural mineral useful in preventing tooth decay. Fluoride is the primary ingredient of toothpaste and helps strengthen tooth enamel and reduce the risk of cavities.
The controversy involves some studies raising concerns about negative health consequences from fluoride. One was a federal study released in August by the National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, that linked lower IQs in children with high levels of fluoride exposure — at rates about double the amount of fluoride that’s found in Miami-Dade and other municipal water systems.
That study got more attention in September when a federal judge cited the research in a ruling that instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to address what he found was an “unreasonable risk” of harm from fluoride in drinking water without concluding the risk actually exists.
Advocates for fluoride in drinking water, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say there’s no doubt public health is better served by local governments continuing to use water supplies to reduce cavities in the population. They see fluoride critics cherry-picking the scientific studies to bolster their case without acknowledging other research that finds fluoride is healthy in small doses and that cavities increase when fluoride gets removed from drinking water.
“It’s a political issue. It’s not science,” Johnny Johnson Jr., a retired dentist from Pinellas County who serves as president of the American Fluoridation Society, said of the movement to remove fluoride from drinking water.
Johnson recently was an opposing voice to Ladapo before a city commission in Polk County considering the end of fluoride in drinking water. It’s part of a broader push by Ladapo to have fluoride declared too risky for consumption, a stance shared by President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
While Johnson appeared before the Bartow City Commission ahead of a final fluoridation vote expected there later this month, he said he wasn’t invited to speak before Miami-Dade’s Health and Safety Committee on Tuesday. No pro-fluoride advocates were invited to speak at Tuesday’s committee meeting, with the presentation reserved for Ladapo and other anti-fluoride speakers invited by Gonzalez. Members of the public will be able to speak on the issue at the start of the meeting, which begins at 11 a.m.
The anti-fluoride movement is gaining steam in Florida. In early 2024, Collier County commissioners voted to remove it. Naples commissioners made a similar decision in late 2024, as did Stuart’s local government. But some governments are pushing back. Hillsborough County commissioners last month voted to keep fluoride in the county’s drinking water.
It’s not clear what’s next for the fluoride debate in Miami-Dade. Should the Gonzalez legislation get a hearing, a majority of the 13-member commission would need to vote to approve it. The county’s Democratic mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, could veto the legislation.
In a statement Monday evening, Levine Cava noted the county has been adding fluoride to its drinking water for more than 60 years based on research showing the practice is “safe and an important measure to prevent tooth decay and protect public health.” The statement, released with the Levine Cava deputy overseeing the county’s water system, Chief Utilities Officer Roy Coley, said the county would adjust its fluoridation approach “if regulations or scientific consensus change.”
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