(LifeSiteNews) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Trump administration’s Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), said that he will tell the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to stop encouraging jurisdictions across the country to add fluoride to their public drinking water supplies.
Kennedy also noted that he is currently putting together a task force to study the issue, which will revise the CDC’s current recommendations concerning what has become a controversial, contested practice.
While Kennedy does not have authority to order local communities to stop fluoridation, it is within his power to order the CDC to stop pushing the chemical additive. Kennedy said that he will work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise permissible fluoride amounts for communities choosing to continue adding the chemical to public drinking water.
While speaking in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, Kennedy cited a report by the National Toxicology Program issued in August that “concluded there is moderate confidence in the scientific evidence that showed an association between higher levels of fluoride and lower IQ in children.”
The bombshell report published by the HHS revealed that excessive fluoride consumption in children has been linked to a two- to five-point IQ reduction.
“It makes no sense to have it in our water supply. And I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban it,” Kennedy told reporters. “And I hope many more will come.”
Kennedy has suggested in the past the fluoride is “associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.”
“As soon as I was nominated by President Trump as administrator of the EPA, the secretary instantly reached out to start talking about issues that he is so passionate about. And number one on that list was fluoride,” said EPA chief Lee Zeldin who joined Kennedy in Monday’s news conference. Zeldin said the EPA will begin a review of the available scientific studies regarding the potential health risks due to fluoride.
“When this evaluation is completed, we will have an updated foundational scientific evaluation that will inform the agency’s future steps,” Zeldin said. “Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this issue. His advocacy was instrumental in our decision to review fluoride exposure risks, and we are committed to working alongside him, utilizing sound science as we advance our mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
Adding fluoride to water as an alleged means of cavity prevention has long been practiced in communities across the United States with the backing of the American Dental Association, the Academy of Pediatrics, and the CDC. However, the practice has come under increasing scrutiny as reports have emerged indicating either negative health impacts or no impact at all from the additive.
Last month, Utah became the first U.S. state to ban fluoride in public drinking water. The GOP-sponsored measure will go into effect on May 7.
Roughly 200 million Americans currently live in communities supplied with fluoridated water.
Lawmakers in Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina have also proposed restricting the increasingly controversial additive.