NBC News
Florida legislators approved a bill that prohibits fluoride in drinking water on Tuesday. The State House of Representatives voted for measure 88 in favor and 27 against.
SB 700, also known as the Florida Agricultural Law, does not mention the word “fluoride”, but would prohibit this chemical compound by preventing the use of certain additives in the water system. The bill now expects the signature of the Republican governor, Ron Desantis.
If Desantis signs the bill, Florida will become the second state to prohibit fluoride in water supplies.
The Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, also a Republican, signed a bill at the end of March that prohibits any government or government entity to add this mineral, which fights caries, in the state’s water systems, becoming the first state to do so. The measure will enter into force on May 7.
During a session of the Florida Representatives Chamber on Tuesday, legislators who support the bill argued that fluorine does not improve water quality and to eliminate it from systems could save money from local governments. The opponents argued that common floridans depend on fluorine for their dental health.
“This bill does not harm the rich. They will continue to visit private dentists, receiving their expensive treatments and wearing their perfect smiles,” said representative Daryl Campbell, a Democrat for Florida, during the session. “But for the common Floridans, who begin to work at 06:00 am, who cannot take free time for their visits to the dentist, who depend on the tap water to protect their children, this bill eliminates a safe, proven and affordable public health tool.” In a statement, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat for Florida, declared himself “deeply disappointed” by the decision of the legislature to prohibit fluoride, which, according to her, “ignores the overwhelming consensus of dentists, doctors and medical experts and will end a practice that has been implemented for decades to protect our health.”
“No study has shown that low levels is dangerous for our communities, including babies and pregnant women; in fact, it is of vital importance to the health of developing teeth in babies and children,” said Cava, and added that decisions like these should be left to local communities. “Eliminating fluoration will have lasting consequences for health, especially for our most vulnerable families.”
Important public health groups, such as the American Pediatrics Academy, the American Dental Association and the CDCs – which claim that drinking fluorida water keeps strong teeth and reduces decay – support the addition of this water mineral. The movement against fluoro seems to be gaining popularity, especially with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who has declared that drinking fluorinated water does not offer any “systemic advantage”.
Laws have been promulgated that prohibit fluoride in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
Hawaii, which has never imposed water fluoration, presents the “highest prevalence of tooth decay in the United States” among its children, since only 11 % of its residents have a community water system, according to a study conducted in 2015 by the Department of Health with third grade students in the entire State.
