Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning fluoride in Florida’s water, prompting the City of Leesburg to cancel its $600,000 fluoridation project.
Govenor says ‘it’s not a significant loss’
The backstory:
Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that bans fluoride in Florida’s water.
The City of Leesburg had recently made a choice to add fluoride to their water.
The decision to start in on that $600,000 project to begin fluoridating Leesburg’s water came after months of debate and public input. But the City had to cancel the project, after the State started talking about banning fluoridation.
What we know:
The City says the $300,000 they’ve already invested in this project won’t be a total loss.
Water treatment involves other chemicals, like bleach, that can make use of the same system they’ve already paid for.
The other $300,000 allotted for the fluoridation project will go back to the City’s water fund.
Florida Gov. DeSantis to sign bill banning fluoride in water
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced during a press conference on Tuesday in Miami that he will sign a bill to stop the practice of adding fluoride in the state’s water supply. This would make Florida the second state in the country to ban community fluoridation, following Utah’s lead. DeSantis said the move is the latest effort in the state to support medical freedom.
What they’re saying:
Governor Ron DeSantis says not everyone wants fluoride in the water.
“When you do this in the water supply, you are taking the choice away from someone who may not want to have overexposure to fluoride,” the governor said. “The same pump that’s pumping fluoride out of the barrel is the same pump that is pumping bleach out of a barrel into the water. So those types of things will be repurposed and used for different operations. So, financially, I would say it’s not a significant loss.”
What we don’t know:
Although some of the items the City has already invested in can be repurposed, the City Manager said there was at least some loss. It’s unclear how much money that actually amounted to.
What’s next:
There is still fluoride in Leesburg’s water.
The Floridan aquifer contains about 0.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water — a little under the 0.7 milligrams recommended by the CDC, NIH, and FDEP until recently.
Original article online at: https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/city-leesburg-just-invested-water-fluoridation-system-governor-just-banned-it-what-happens-now