Utah Becomes 1st State in US to Stop Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water

The measure was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox on Thursday.

A glass of tap water in Washington on Nov. 25, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Utah has become the first state in the country to ban adding fluoride to drinking water systems after the governor signed a bill into law on Thursday.

The bill, signed by Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, will go into effect on May 7.

A number of cities and municipalities across the United States have moved to end fluoridation of drinking water, a practice that goes back to the 1940s. Medical groups have long said that the mineral can strengthen teeth and reduce cavities. Still, a landmark ruling issued by a federal judge last year directed federal officials to evaluate whether it can lead to lowered intellectual capacity among children.

According to the text of the measure signed by Cox, which was passed in Utah’s Legislature earlier this year, no person or government entity can add fluoride into water systems in the state.

Cox himself did not offer many public statements on the ban. He said in an on-camera interview this month, “It’s not a bill I care that much about, but it’s a bill I will sign.”

Utah state Rep. Stephanie Gricius, a Republican and chief sponsor of the bill, said it allows pharmacists to prescribe fluoride for those wanting the mineral’s protection for their teeth.

“I believe in individual choice when it comes to what prescriptions we put into our bodies and fluoride is federally regulated as a prescription,” Gricius told Reuters earlier this month. “Community water fluoridation and informed consent, which is foundational to good health care, cannot coexist.”

Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, a Republican, told Deseret News that the bill allows individuals who go to a pharmacist to receive fluoride supplements and “does not prohibit anybody from taking fluoride in whatever fashion they want.”

“It just disallows people who do not want fluoride from having to consume fluoride in their water,” he said.

But the American Dental Association (ADA), a leading medical group that backs widespread water fluoridation, wrote in a February letter to the governor to veto the bill because it is “in complete opposition” to the organization’s mission.

“With the weight of the evidence and nearly universal support of community water fluoridation in all corners of the health care sector, we urge your veto of HB 81,” the letter reads, referring to the name of the bill.

The ADA said the measure would “take away the most effective, efficient and equitable way for dental disease prevention.”

It also noted that Utah, with the bill, would be the “first state in the country to ban fluoridation practices.”

In a news release issued by the ADA, University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry associate dean Dr. Scott Tomar said that ending fluoridation would be detrimental to Utahns’ health and finances due to the cost of incurred dental work.

“As we have recently seen in other communities, stopping fluoridation leads to more cavities and higher costs for dental care,” Tomar said. “On average, every dollar invested in fluoridation saves about $20 in treatment costs. If Utah takes this action, it will not save money, but will put the higher costs of treatment onto the backs of Utah’s citizens.”

Last year, a federal judge in California, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review the risks of adding fluoride to drinking water. The agency is mandated to make sure that there is a margin between the hazard level and the exposure level, he wrote.

“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 reference to “scientific literature in the record” that “provides a high level of certainty that a hazard is present” and that could demonstrate “fluoride is associated with reduced IQ.”

Since the judge’s ruling, several towns and cities have moved to end fluoridation.

Also last year, the federal National Toxicology Program found that there is 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.

The program found that exposing children to high levels of fluoride, which it defined as 1.5 milligrams per liter, was “consistently associated” with a lower IQ in kids. It also made reference to other possible neurodevelopmental problems associated with the compound, but suggested that more evidence is needed.

Reuters contributed to this report.