SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A new law proposed in the Utah Legislature would prohibit adding fluoride to Utah’s water supply.
H.B. 81, named “Fluoride Amendments,” would amend sections of Utah’s law code to prevent adding fluoride to any “public water system” and disallows local governments from enacting or enforcing ordinances that allow fluoridation.
State Representative Stephanie Gricius (R-HD50), the sponsor of the bill, told ABC4.com that her bill isn’t anti-fluoride, but is about standardizing the delivery method for Utahns.
“Nothing about this bill is anti-fluoride,” Gricius expressed. “It’s only about changing the delivery mechanism. It’ll be easier for some people to access, and some people will have to actually make an effort to access it, it creates a standardized delivery system that lets the individual choose if that’s the medication they want to take or not.”
Fluoridation, or the addition of fluoride to community water supplies, is the process of adjusting natural fluoride levels to a level that is recommend to improve tooth development and prevent cavities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, fluoridation is a strategy used across the U.S. to lower cavity rates and improve overall dental health.
The recommended level by the CDC for fluoride is 0.7 milligrams per liter. Which is about three drops within a 55-gallon barrel of water. The goal is to add enough to the naturally occurring fluoride to equal that level of 0.7.
There are only two counties in Utah that fluoridate their water: Salt Lake and Davis. Both of these were done by ballot initiative, with Salt Lake County passing it in 2000. Though they are the only counties that have general fluoridation ordinances, cities throughout Utah have put fluoride in their water.
In addition to its provision on water supplies, Gricius’ bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services to issue standing prescriptions for fluoride supplements. Which Gricius says gives citizens more access and choice in receiving fluoride.
“Where there is harm, when it comes to taking a prescription, there should always be [a] choice,” Gricius stated. “If you look at it from the perspective of preventing tooth decay, in a lot of ways we are increasing fluoride access to the rest of the state.”
Gricius said she began working on HB 81 after concerns were brought to her about its health effects, which she says have been linked to higher signs of fluorosis and may impact the development of bones in children.
Nicholas Rupp, the communications director for the Salt Lake County Health Department, said that fluoridation was essential to dental health, and is an efficient way to ensure that everyone can access it.
“While [fluoridation] is relatively new here in Salt Lake County, it has been going on a long time throughout the country,” Rupp stated. “The benefit of community water fluoridation is that we can control the dosage very precisely through the water systems… and that way fluoride gets to every community member, regardless of their age, their income status, their access to dental care. That’s really the biggest benefit to delivering fluoride through the community water system is that it reaches everyone.”
Rupp also clarifies that fluoride also naturally occurs in water, saying, “What community water fluoridation does is add enough fluoride to get the benefits of that fluoridation to reach that recommended level. It’s very similar to adding vitamin D to milk or adding iodine to salt.”
Out of the 25 years of fluoridation in Salt Lake County, there has been one major incident back in 2019, that due to mechanical failure that came after a snowstorm knocked out power. Causing 40 times the recommended level of fluoride to end up in the Sandy water supply. Causing residents to have nausea and dysentery.
Mark Fullmer, a dentist located in Utah County, said that out of the 38 years of practicing dentistry, he has only seen cases of fluorosis through drinking water where fluoride was naturally occurring at higher levels than were safe, saying “I’ve seen cases of fluorosis, but they’ve come from areas where the fluoride was naturally in the water in higher amounts than we would use in fluoridating water.”
Fullmer joked that not having fluoride in water would be good for business for him. However, he said his goal was to prevent that as much as possible. He says fluoridation helps that goal.
“I would hope that legislators and their constituents would look at the good science,” Fullmer stated. “As a dental profession, we would never want to do anything that would harm people’s health … there probably are instances where too much fluoride was added to the water or those type of things. I am not aware of that, but that creates that fear, just the chance that it might happen. Nobody wants that to happen.”
Gricius stressed in a final note that people should be able to choose what they are ingesting, and the role of government is to provide them with that choice, saying, “The bottom line is, when you are putting a substance in the water to medicate people, you are taking away their choice of weighting that risk for themselves. The role of government is to provide safe clean water, not to medicate the public.”
H.B. 81 is set to be debated in the upcoming 2025 General Session of the state legislature beginning on Jan. 21.
Original article online at: https://www.abc4.com/news/politics/proposed-law-seeks-to-remove-fluoride-from-utahs-water-supply-what-to-know/