Florida lawmakers followed Utah’s example and passed a bill Tuesday banning the addition of fluoride to public drinking water. The bill is awaiting Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature after passing the Florida House 88-27.
Utah became the first state to outright ban fluoridation of public water during its 2025 legislative session. Hawaii has never added fluoride to its public water.
According to The Guardian, DeSantis’ administration has been against community water fluoridation, “arguing high levels could pose a risk to children’s intellectual development,” so his signature is expected on the measure.
The issue has been a hot topic for a long time, but the heat was turned up with the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has been outspoken in his opposition to adding the mineral to water supplies.
Fluoride has been added to a large patchwork of public water supplies for decades because it protects against cavities and strengthens teeth enamel, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Unlike Utah, however, Florida took a different approach, not actually mentioning fluoride. The measure passed in the Sunshine State instead will prevent local governments from adding anything to its water supply that isn’t aimed directly at meeting standards for safe drinking water. The Guardian said the bill “also restricts plant-based food labeling, as a consumer protection measure.”
About fluoride
Fluoride is a chemical ion of fluorine and the 13th most common element in the earth’s crust, according to the CDC. It’s very common in soil and water and even many rocks.
It strengthens enamel and prevents cavities by combining with outer layers of tooth enamel.
The first community to add fluoride to water was Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945. Tooth decay among children plummeted. In the 1950s, other communities began pushing for the addition of fluoride and after that tooth care products started to contain fluoride.
Communities have always decided whether to add fluoride.
The pro and con arguments
As Deseret News reported in late November, there are experts who feel strongly on both sides of the issue, though public health groups have largely favored the addition of fluoride to community water supplies.
According to NBC News, the Florida bill’s supporters “argued that fluoride doesn’t improve water quality and that removing it from water systems could save local governments money. Opponents argued that everyday Floridians rely on fluoride for dental health.”
The American Dental Association has been a strong advocate of adding fluoride. Earlier this month, the association’s president, Brett Kessler, said in a written statement: “As dentists, we see the direct consequences fluoride removal has on our patients and it’s a real tragedy when policymakers’ decisions hurt vulnerable kids and adults in the long term.”
He added that “Blindly calling for a ban on fluoridated water hurts people, costs money and will ultimately harm our economy.”
Besides the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advocates of fluoride’s addition to drinking water as is the U.S. Public Health Service.
They all call the addition of fluoride at low levels safe and good public health policy. But in 2015, the levels deemed safe were adjusted down a bit because of fluorosis, which can leave “discolored splotches” on teeth, per the earlier Deseret News article. That has been deemed “mostly a cosmetic issue.”
“The fact that so many products for teeth and oral health contain fluoride, however, is one reason that opponents of adding the mineral to municipal water argue it’s not needed. The benefits can be gained in other ways, without incurring any of the risks,” as Deseret News noted in a look at pros and cons in March.
The article concluded studies show both benefits and risks of fluoride’s addition to drinking water and that levels of fluoridation clearly matter.
But the division over adding fluoride got a boost last summer, when the National Toxicology Program reported with “moderate confidence” that higher levels of fluoride lower children’s IQs by a few points. Critics noted that the research cited fluoride levels that were twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
“Wrote the AP of the 324-page report, ‘It summarizes a review of studies conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico that concludes that drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is consistently associated with lower IQs in kids.’ The article noted no attempt to quantify the exact IQ point loss, but said that ‘some of the studies reviewed in the report suggested IQ was 2 to 5 points lower in children who’d had higher exposures,’” per Deseret News.
In Utah, proponents of the ban and the law itself said that people could still get the protective benefits of fluoride through fluoridated toothpaste and mouthwash, or they could get fluoride supplements at their local pharmacy. And dentists, of course, can also treat teeth with fluoride.
In Florida, Democratic Rep. Daryl Campbell said the bill works fine for the wealthy, who could afford it. “They’ll keep seeing private dentists, getting their expensive treatments and flashing their perfect smiles,” he said, according to NBC. “But for everyday Floridians, the people who clock in at 6 a.m., who can’t take time off for their dental visits, who rely on water from their taps to protect their kids, this bill takes a safe and proven and affordable public health tool and rips it away.”
Meanwhile, communities and local governments continue to decide. For instance, Ohio and South Carolina are considering banning fluoride in community water supplies, while New Hampshire, North Dakota and Tennessee did not approve similar proposals, according to the Associated Press. Portland, Oregon, has never added fluoride. And Sheridan, Wyoming, recently began adding it.
Original article online at: https://www.deseret.com/lifestyle/2025/04/30/florida-joins-utah-fluoride-public-water-ban/