Texas City of Abilene Stops Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water

A glass is filled with tap water in San Anselmo, Calif., on July 6, 2023. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A Texas city with a population of more than 100,000 moved to stop adding fluoride to its drinking water after a federal judge last week ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration to address the compound’s potential risks to children’s neurodevelopment.

A news release issued by the City of Abilene, located in central Texas, said the decision to “temporarily suspend the fluoridation of its public water supply” was made in response to the judge’s ruling, noting that the ruling could force the EPA to change its recommendations on adding fluoride.

“With potential changes to EPA regulations, such as potential adjustments to fluoride levels or the possible introduction of warning labels, the City is pausing fluoridation to ensure compliance with any new health and safety guidelines that may emerge,” the release said. “This temporary suspension is being implemented out of an abundance of caution to safeguard public health.”

The city noted that it currently follows federal guidelines and the American Dental Association’s recommendation of adding fluoride at levels of 0.7 parts per million.

Abilene Mayor Weldon Hurt and City Manager Robert Hanna both agreed that a “temporary suspension” of adding fluoride would “do no harm” in the short term, according to the release.

With the move, Abilene appears to be the first Texas municipality to suspend water fluoridation in light of a ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen on Sept. 24 that went against the EPA. Two towns in New York’s Westchester County also moved to stop the practice after the judge’s ruling.

“In light of this federal ruling and the long-standing concerns expressed by many Yorktown residents, I have decided to suspend water fluoridation as a precautionary measure,” Yorktown Supervisor Ed Lachterman said in the Sept. 26 statement. “Our priority is the safety and well-being of our community, and we believe it is prudent to pause fluoridation to further assess its potential impacts.”

Chen, in his opinion, sided with multiple advocacy groups and directed the EPA to address the risks of adding fluoridation to drinking water. The agency is required to ensure that there is a margin between the hazard level and the exposure level, he said.

“If there is an insufficient margin, then the chemical poses a risk,” the judge said. “Simply put, the risk to health at exposure levels in United States drinking water is sufficiently high to trigger regulatory response by the EPA [under federal law].”

His order also made note of recent “scientific literature in the record” that “provides a high level of certainty that a hazard is present,” which could demonstrate “fluoride is associated with reduced IQ” in children.

However, Chen stressed that the ruling doesn’t say that fluoridated water can—with certainty—cause a lower IQ in children.

EPA spokesman Jeffrey Landis told The Epoch Times earlier this week that the agency is reviewing the judge’s decision and had no further comment.

The American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatricians refuted the judge’s rulings, and both organizations said they stand behind their fluoride recommendations.

“Water fluoridation is a public health policy based on a solid foundation of evidence. When new research is published, health experts scrutinize it to make sure it meets high standards for public safety,” Charlotte W. Lewis, a member of the American Academy of Pediatricians, said in a statement on Sept. 26.

In August, the federal National Toxicology Program found that there appears to be a link between higher amounts of fluoride exposure and a lower IQ in children. The agency used studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. The World Health Organization has set a safe upper limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5 milligrams per liter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.