Florida is on the verge of banning local governments from adding fluoride to tap water, ending decades of a practice that’s hailed by dentists and medical groups but under fire from top health officials in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.
The Florida House on Tuesday passed a farm bill that includes a ban on fluoridation of drinking water under a provision that creates new restrictions on what local governments can add to water supplies. The state Senate already passed the legislation, meaning the bill will be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who opposes adding fluoride to drinking water. If enacted, Florida would be the second state to ban fluoridation of drinking water. Utah became the first in March.
Tallahassee’s move against fluoridation falls in the middle of Miami-Dade’s own fight over the issue, with the County Commission earlier this month voting to end adding fluoride to the county’s drinking water. DeSantis himself endorsed the county legislation, posting on social media about Miami-Dade: “Say no to forced medication!”
County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava vetoed that legislation and has been campaigning to win an override vote scheduled for the May 6 meeting of the commission. Eight of the 13 commissioners voted to end Miami-Dade’s fluoridation program, which started in the 1950s.
On Tuesday, after the 88-27 vote in the Republican-controlled Florida House, Levine Cava, a Democrat, criticized the legislation for putting politics ahead of public health.
“Fluoridation is a proven, safe, cost-effective way to prevent tooth decay and protect oral health for children and adults, particularly for families with limited access to dental care,” she said in a statement released by her office. “In Miami-Dade we know that our community trusts dentists, not politicians, on whether or not we should fluoridate, and that’s why I continue to believe that listening to medical experts is the best way to safeguard our health.”
Advocates of fluoridation — declared one of the top public health interventions of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — now are on the opposite side of the top health officials in Florida and for the nation.
In Washington, President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is advocating for an end to fluoridation of tap water, calling it a harmful additive.
The head of public health under DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, helped push for the legislation to end fluoridation in Miami-Dade for the first time since the 1950s. Ladapo and others cited research finding health risks for developing fetuses when pregnant women drink fluoridated tap water. “Either all of the research is wrong,” Ladapo told Miami-Dade commissioners before the April 1 vote, “or you’re comfortable potentially harming some very special populations in your community.”
Major medical groups reject claims that microscopic amounts of fluoride in tap water bring a health risk. Instead, the groups maintain that communities are bound to see increases in cavities and decreases in oral health once fluoride is no longer available in drinking water.
“Community water fluoridation is one of the most effective and affordable public health measures we can implement to protect our residents’ oral health,” the Florida Dental Association said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Adding optimal amounts of fluoride into our community water supplies can prevent at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults, reducing the need for costly dental treatments.”
Most groundwater naturally contains some fluoride, but local governments across Florida add more to boost oral health. Currently, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends fluoridation and Miami-Dade and other governments keep fluoride amounts below the threshold considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
It’s not clear how the newly passed bill in Tallahassee will affect next week’s scheduled override vote in Miami-Dade.
The farm bill doesn’t become law until DeSantis signs it, and the state legislation wouldn’t take effect until July 1. Once a law, the state legislation would preempt Miami-Dade’s decision-making on fluoride, no matter what happens to the county ordinance that Levine Cava vetoed on April 11.
Commissioners could vote next week to override Levine Cava’s veto, allowing the county’s own fluoride ban to take effect. That would require Miami-Dade’s Water and Sewer Department to halt adding fluoride to county drinking water by the middle of June.
With a statewide ban looming, commissioners could also vote to reconsider the original legislation and table it in favor of letting the Florida rules take effect. Or Levine Cava could secure enough votes to sustain her veto, keeping the county’s fluoridation program in place until Florida forces an end to it.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who sponsored the county legislation to end fluoridation, issued a statement praising the Florida House’s vote to end the “outdated practice” of fluoridation.
“This is a bold statement in supporting personal freedom when it comes to health decisions for ourselves and our families,” Gonzalez said. “Today, the state of Florida takes a giant step toward protecting the health of all Floridians.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM.
Original article online at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article305335416.html