Utah to Become First State to Ban Fluoride in Public Drinking Water

The governor has confirmed that he will sign the law prohibiting it.

People walk along the street in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Feb. 21, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he would sign a law banning the addition of fluoride to public drinking water, making his state the first in the nation to do so.

In an interview aired March 9, the Republican governor noted that half of Utah already doesn’t have fluoride added to the water, and dentists he consulted reported no “drastically different outcomes” in dental health between fluoridated and non-fluoridated counties.

“It’s got to be a really high bar for me if we’re going to require people to be medicated by their government,” Cox told Lindsay Aerts of ABC4 Utah.

The bill, HB81, would prohibit public water systems from adding fluoride and allow pharmacists to prescribe fluoride tablets as an alternative for individuals who want it.

The bill cleared the state legislature last month with mixed bipartisan support, with lawmakers from both parties voting on both sides of the measure. The debate largely centered on local control, as two counties—Salt Lake and Davis—previously voted to fluoridate their water.

If signed into law, the bill would go into effect on May 7, requiring the 66 fluoridated public water systems in Utah—out of a total of 484—to cease the practice.

“It’s not a bill I felt strongly about, it’s not a bill I care that much about, but it’s a bill I will sign,” Cox said.

The American Dental Association is calling on Cox to veto the bill, citing fluoridation’s reported benefits to dental health and the prevention of cavities.

“Even with the many preventive health advancements in the 20th century, community water fluoridation is held out among them as one of the best,” the Association wrote in a letter to Cox.

“The state’s continued oral health, the lack thereof has been linked to several other chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, low birthweight and diabetes, depends on you.”

Controversy over fluoride in Utah’s water ramped up after a 2019 overfeed incident in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City, where a fluoride dosing pump was stuck in the open position and flooded 270 homes with contaminated water. An independent investigation later identified failures at all levels in the government’s emergency response.

The debate also coincides with the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, a longtime critic of fluoridation, has said fluoride lowers IQ—an assertion supported by recent studies showing potential links between fluoride exposure and children’s IQs—as well as bone problems, particularly when fluoride is above the U.S. recommended levels.

Utah may not be the last state to end fluoridation, with lawmakers in Florida, Montana, and Tennessee considering similar statewide bans.