EPA "prepared to act" on RFK's request to remove fluoride from drinking water
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks Monday in Salt Lake City while EPA head Lee Zeldin looks on. Photo: Erin Alberty/Axios
The Trump administration is formally taking on fluoride in drinking water, with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy planning to tell the CDC to end its longtime recommendation for the practice.
- EPA head Lee Zeldin also said his agency is "ready to act."
Why it matters: Public health and dental experts have warned ending the addition of fluoride to drinking water will harm children's teeth.
Driving the news: Zeldin and Kennedy joined Utah lawmakers in a Monday media event to praise the state's first-in-the-nation ban on fluoride in public water systems.
- Kennedy later told the AP he planned to assemble a task force to examine the mineral in drinking water and tell the CDC to stop recommending it.
Catch up quick: Kennedy last November called fluoride "an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease."
The latest: He renewed those criticisms Monday, citing an August report by the National Toxicology Program that found, "with moderate confidence," an association between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQs in children.
Reality check: The analysis looked at fluoride levels more than double what federal regulators recommend in drinking water.
- "It is important to note that there were insufficient data to determine if the low fluoride level of 0.7 mg/L currently recommended for U.S. community water supplies has a negative effect on children's IQ," the paper states.
- Most U.S. water systems contain fluoride below that level. Higher readings are almost always the result of naturally occurring fluoride in the ground, the New York Times reported.
What they're saying: "It is top of the list for the Environmental Protection Agency," Zeldin said, pledging the agency will "go back and look at these studies that have come out."
- Yes, but: Zeldin did not specify what, if anything, the EPA will do. Kennedy previously said the Trump administration would advise U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.
By the numbers: More than 60% of the U.S. population is connected to water systems that contain added fluoride, per the Kaiser Family Foundation.
What we're watching: Bills similar to Utah's have been introduced in Tennessee, North Dakota and Montana.
Editor's note: This story's headline has been corrected to indicate that the EPA, not the FDA, is prepared to act on Kennedy's recommendation.