An anti-fluoride bill won’t be headed to the House floor anytime soon.

House Bill 2372 would have required all local governments providing fluoridated water to “notify the consumers of that treated water, that the latest science confirms that ingested fluoride lowers the I.Q. in children.”

The House Health and Human Services Committee voted 10-2 Monday to table the bill without debate. Chairman David Crum, R-Augusta, said the vote Monday means the bill is dead.

Rep. Les Osterman, R-Wichita said many committee members were not convinced that there was sufficient proof of the bill’s claims.

“What is the standard of proof?” asked Mark Gietzen, the former Sedgwick County Republican Party chairman who authored the bill. “The whole thing is upside down. If someone wants to put fluoride in your water, they should have to meet a standard of proof that it’s safe to put in there. But there’s nothing!”

Rep. Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said he thought fellow committee members felt “that cities should be able to decide for themselves. The state shouldn’t be telling them what to do.”

The measure has been condemned by public health officials and the Kansas Dental Association.

Gietzen said he plans to introduce a revised version of the bill in the Senate this week.

Contributing: Associated Press