Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that a potential Trump White House would recommend communities remove fluoride from drinking water, overturning decades of public health guidelines.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral in water that oral doctors say can help prevent cavities in the right doses. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes community water fluoridation (the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water to increase its concentration to optimal levels) as a “critical strategy” to prevent cavities and a of the “10 great public health interventions in the world”. 20th century.”
However, health agencies warn that prolonged ingestion of fluoride in excessive doses carries various health risks, and critics such as Kennedy have campaigned to end community water fluoridation. The Environmental Protection Agency has established a maximum allowable concentration of fluoride in public drinking water to prevent adverse health effects.
Kennedy stated that the Trump White House would recommend reducing that permitted gathering to zero on his first day in power.
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS EPA TO FURTHER REGULATE FLUORIDE IN DRINKING WATER DUE TO CONCERNS ABOUT LOWER IQ IN CHILDREN
Former President Trump welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on October 23, 2024, in Duluth, Georgia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“On January 20, the Trump White House will recommend that all US water systems remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy posted on X. “Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” he said, adding that former President Trump and first lady Melania Trump “want to make America better again.” healthy”.
His statement sparked a wave of criticism on social media and renewed concern among experts that Kennedy, who has often clashed with the scientific consensus on vaccine safety, was placed in a position of authority over public health. .
“While President Trump has received a variety of policy ideas, he is focused on Tuesday’s election,” Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in response to media questions about Kennedy’s statement.
Currently, more than 200 million Americans, or about 75% of the population, drink fluoridated water.
FLUORIDE IN WATER LINKED TO LOW INTELLIGENCE
A photo illustration of tap water in a clear glass cup in West Reading, Pennsylvania, June 15, 2021. (Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent cavities and continued to promote it even after fluoridated toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first city in the world to fluoridate its water supply.
Experts have long said that brushing your teeth with fluoride is not comparable to the risks posed by ingesting fluoride, and that the latter can trigger harmful neurotoxic effects.
Officials lowered their recommendation for fluoride levels in drinking water in 2015 to address a dental condition called fluorosis, which can cause stains on teeth and was becoming more common in American children.
In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in children. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
Then in September, a federal judge in California cited that study in an order requiring the EPA to further regulate fluoride because high levels pose “an unreasonable risk” to children.
“In fact, EPA’s own expert agrees that fluoride is dangerous at some level of exposure,” said U.S. District Judge Edward Chen. “And ample evidence establishes that a mother’s exposure to fluoride during pregnancy “is associated with a decrease in IQ in their offspring.”
Still, the judge said the court “does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is harmful to public health.”
RFK JR STATES THAT TRUMP ‘PROMISED’ ‘CONTROL’ OVER ‘PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits “The Story With Martha MacCallum” at Fox News Channel Studios on September 25, 2024 in New York City. (Jason Mendez/Getty Images)
Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. For five decades before that, the recommended upper range was 1.2″ after evidence increasingly established fluoride’s connection to adverse effects, including severe enamel fluorosis, risk of bone fracture, and possible fluorosis. skeletal,” the judge wrote. Skeletal fluorosis is a potentially crippling disorder that causes weaker bones, stiffness and pain.
The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water at 1.5. Furthermore, the EPA has a long-standing requirement that water systems cannot have more than 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.
Kennedy has said that Trump has promised to give him “control” over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), should the former president win the White House on Tuesday.
“I stand ready to help you rid public health agencies of their widespread conflicts and corruption and restore their tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,” Kennedy told the New York Times in a statement.
The Trump campaign has said no decisions have been made about Cabinet-level positions or staff, including the secretaries of HHS and USDA.
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“No formal Cabinet and staff decisions have been made; however, President Trump has said he will work alongside passionate voices like RFK Jr. to make America healthy again by providing families with safe food and ending to the epidemic of chronic diseases that plague our children. Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“President Trump will also establish a special presidential commission of independent minds and task them with investigating what is causing the decades-long rise in chronic diseases,” he added.
Trump told supporters at a rally Saturday that he told Kennedy that “you can work on food, you can work on anything you want,” except energy policy.
“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants children, he wants it all,” Trump said.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Alex Nitzberg and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
