A bipartisan group of Republican and Democrat legislators in the Tennessee House of Representatives has sent a letter to State Health Commissioner Susan Cooper, asking that she direct state health department employees to halt activities that promote the practice of water fluoridation.

The group includes Beth Harwell, Speaker of the House, legislator-physician Dr. Joey Hensley, and Representatives John DeBerry, Jr., Joe Towns, Jr., and Frank Niceley.

The legislators’ letter points out that the Gerber baby products company is now selling an unfluoridated water so that parents of young babies will not use fluoridated water when mixing milk formula.

Noting that fluorides can cause a permanent disfiguring staining of teeth called “dental fluorosis,” the group expressed concern that “many Tennessee families are unaware” about Gerber’s water, and that citizens may not be able to afford unfluoridated water for their babies’ milk, nor have funds to repair fluorosis stains on their or their children’s teeth.

The group also noted growing calls for “Fluoridegate” investigations, inquiries that would look into questions now surfacing about why the Centers for Disease Control and other groups have not openly communicated important science that contradicts years of assurances that fluoridation has been exhaustively researched and poses no health risks.

The letter states, “There is real reason to be concerned that the whole story about fluorides was not previously shared with us. The legal community is now looking at pursuing cases related to harm from fluorides. This may have implications for our state’s water utilities.”

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Note: See letter sent to the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health